Why is Belgium getting overlooked as a potential Euro 2024 champion?

If you ask any fans of football, you will get differing opinions as to who their favourite country is to lift the trophy at Euro 2024, which this year is being hosted in Germany. If you look at the latest EURO 2024 betting. You will see that the bookmakers have England as the favourites to lift the club. They have a young but experienced side with plenty of depth and flair, and this is despite their disappointing pre-tournament result against Iceland. However, there is one team in particular that seems to be constantly overlooked, even by some of the main bookmakers and that is Belgium.And so the question we’re going to look at today is: Why is this? Is there a particular reason why they’ve lost hope of a lot of football supporters and fans? Is it down to form or injuries? These are all questions we will look at. Well, firstly, if you look at England, who are favourites, what contributes to this is that they have a relatively easy group stage to progress through. They are up against Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine. And so they do indeed, like England, remain heavy favourites to remain unbeaten and progress to the knockout stages with ease.

Retirement of some big names

If you look at the last two previous tournaments, however, there are some big names in football that have now retired or have no longer been chosen to be included in the squad. And despite the array of well-run players that were in those respective squads, they never got anywhere in international tournaments. And so now, if you omit some of those big well-run names and replace them with some younger but less experienced players, you can see why a lot of people who bet would not like to back them to win the tournament. Likewise, there are still some big names that feature in the squad. But next, we are going to see which big names are missing so that we can see what their chances really are.

A much-changed defensive line

Two of the big names that retired from the squad were Thomas Varmaelen and Vincent Kompany, who recently landed a managerial role at Bayern Munich. These two played a important role in keeping strikers at bay and assisting their goalkeeper. Their respective departures leave only one experienced player in the back line and that is Jan Vertonghen. And a lot of people are concerned that he hasn’t had enough time to gel with the likes of Wout Faes in the Belgian defence. And so, when you look at areas of weakness like this and some of the teams that they’re up against, you can see why people are worried.

Well ranked

Belgium, however, should not be ruled out. FIFA still has them ranked as the third-best team in the world. And with the lack of expectation, this might even aid in not heaping too much pressure on the rather youthful and new team, who might prefer to play under this approach, which could even help them excel. However, they have also had better squads, as a lot of people will agree, in the past and have always ended up underperforming in big tournaments like the Euros so it only remains to be seen how they will fare this time.

A glimmer of hope

There are some big names, however, that are still featured in the Belgium squad. These include seasoned goalscorer Romelu Lukaku, who has scored an impressive 83 goals in 114 caps for his country. And he will be partnered by Lois Openda of RB Leipzig, who had a cracking season in front of the net in the German Bundesliga with 24 goals in total. They also have in-form winger Johan Bakayoko and Jeremy Doku, who, when supporting the two forwards, can overwhelm the opposite with their pace, flair, and agility.

Of course, everyone is going to have their own opinion For Belgium's chances in the Euro 2024 tournament. And with it only being days away, we can see whether this will be a chance for the team to turn the tables and bring home some silverware from an international tournament. Or will the failures in past tournaments, despite a great squad and huge support from fans, be repeated again? The bookmakers seem to keep England as favourites for the tournament but again, will all of the pressure and expectation end up breaking them? We will find out.