France vs Belgium Matchday Stats Preview

This will be France and Belgium’s 76th encounter. It’s France’s most frequent all-time opponent, having faced the Belgians nearly twice as much as any other team (39 meetings each with Italy & Switzerland). Meanwhile, Belgium have only faced the Netherlands (129 times) on more occasions than the French.

France have won all four of their previous matches against Belgium at a major tournament (WC + EURO), scoring 13 goals and conceding only three. Their only previous meeting at a EURO was 40 years ago, in 1984 – France won 5-0 in the group stages courtesy of a Michel Platini hat-trick and goals from Alain Giresse and Luis Fernandez on their way to their first EURO trophy.

France scored just two goals in the EURO 2024 group stage, their fewest in a major tournament group stage since the 2010 World Cup (1). Their two goals came via a Max Wöber own goal for Austria and a Kylian Mbappé penalty, having 47 non-penalty attempts without finding the net. Indeed, the only goal they conceded was a penalty, meaning their group games had 70 non—penalty shots overall without success.

Belgium have advanced to the knockout stages of a third consecutive UEFA EUROs tournament, having reached the quarter-final at both EUROs 2016 and 2020. The Red Devils have won each of their last four last 16 games at major tournaments (World Cup/EUROs) since defeat to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup (0-2).

France have drawn five of their last six UEFA EURO matches (W1), having only drawn four of their previous 25 games in the competition (W14 L7). Their round of 16 match at EURO 2020 was a 3-3 draw with Switzerland, eventually going out 5-4 on penalties.

Only Serbia (3.8%) had a poorer shot conversion rate in the group stage of EURO 2024 than both Belgium and France (both 4.2% - 2 goals from 48 shots). Indeed, Belgium have scored just three goals in six games across the last two major tournaments (2022 World Cup & EURO 2024), scoring from just 3.6% of their shots (3/83), and underperforming their expected goals by 6.15 (3 goals from 9.15 xG).

This will be France manager Didier Deschamps’ 15th match at the UEFA EURO as manager, taking him level with both Lars Lagerbäck (incl. games as joint manager) and Fernando Santos, with only Joachim Löw taking charge of more games at the EUROs (21 games). His seven wins are also only bettered by Löw (12).

During the group stage at EURO 2024, Belgium were the team with the highest share of their line-breaking passes being those that broke the opposition’s defensive line (18%). Indeed, Kevin De Bruyne broke the opponent’s defensive line on more occasions than any other midfielder in the group stage (11).

Kylian Mbappé netted his first ever goal at the UEFA EURO in the group stage against Poland. It took his tally to 13 goals across the EURO and World Cup, with only Michel Platini (14 in 19 games) ever scoring more for France across those two tournaments. Mbappé is also only two goals away from becoming the third French player to score 50 goals in all competitions, after Olivier Giroud (57) and Thierry Henry (51).

In the EURO 2024 group stages, N'Golo Kanté ranked top among his French teammates for chances created (7), tackles (7) and pressures applied (216), while he was joint top for interceptions (3) and line-breaking passes under pressure (15). He has also never ended on the losing side in a major tournament match for France (P18 W12 D6).