Belgium’s football team celebrated its emphatic 4-1 victory over co-hosts the United States in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 with a pair of cheeky social media posts that quickly went viral.
Shortly after securing their place in the quarter-finals, the Belgian Red Devils shared an Instagram Story reading, “Overturn this,” in an apparent dig at the controversy surrounding United States striker Folarin Balogun’s eligibility before the match.
The Belgians followed it up with another playful post on X, taking aim at the long-running “football” versus “soccer” debate in the United States.
“It’s called s̶o̶c̶c̶e̶r̶ 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐋,” the team wrote.
The posts came after FIFA dismissed Belgium’s challenge over Balogun’s availability. The governing body had earlier suspended the implementation of the striker’s automatic one-match ban, allowing him to feature in the Round of 16 despite his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the previous round.
Belgium had strongly opposed the decision and appealed the ruling, but FIFA rejected the challenge ahead of kickoff.
On the pitch, Belgium made a statement with a dominant performance, defeating the United States 4-1 at Seattle Stadium to book a quarter-final meeting with Spain.
Charles De Ketelaere starred with two goals, Hans Vanaken added another, and substitute Romelu Lukaku rounded off the scoring in stoppage time as Belgium ended the World Cup campaign of the final remaining co-host nation.
