LIVE: Belgium vs France – Nations League

Live Match, Published On 28 Sep 2026 Belgium host France for a Group A1 Nations League clash, but the visitors will be without their injured star striker Kylian Mbappe. The football match at the King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium kicks off at 8:45pm local time (18:45 GMT). 18 UpdatesDe Ketelaere leads the line for BelgiumThe Atalanta forward will play at the tip of a 4-2-3-1 formation for Belgium.De Bruyne will start behind him in the number ten role, with Moreira and Godts out on either wing.Captain Tielemans will play alongside Lavia in the centre of the park.Seys comes in at left back for Belgium, with the rest of the back four unchanged from the win in Rome.4-3-3 for FranceEsteban Lepaul faces the challenge of replacing Kylian Mbappe in the French line-up, with the Rennes man starting in the centre of a front three. Barcola and Doue will play alongside him in attack.France have a brand new midfield three for this match, with Camavinga, Da Cunha and Akliouche starting in the middle.Lacroix keeps his place in the centre of defence, playing alongside Jacquet at the back. Diouf and Kalulu will start at full back.Two changes for BelgiumMaxim De Cuyper and Nicolas Raskin drop down to the bench after the win over Italy on Friday, with Romeo Lavia and Joaquin Seys coming into the starting line-up.Belgium XI: Senne Lammens (goalkeeper); Timothy Castagne, Nathan Ngoy, Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys; Youri Tielemans (captain); Romeo Lavia; Diego Moreira, Kevin De Bruyne, Mika Godts; Charles De KetelaereThere’s still time to vote in our pollThis content is unavailable due to your cookie settings.To continue, please allow functional cookies from third-party platforms.France make nine changes, Mbappe outZinedane Zidane said he would make changes for this game, and he has stayed true to his word.Maxence Lacroix and Mike Maignan are the only two players to keep their place from the win over Turkiye.Captain Kylian Mbappe is missing with an injury.France XI: Mike Maignan (goalkeeper) (captain); Andy Diouf, Maxence Lacroix, Jeremy Jacquet, Pierre Kalulu; Eduardo Camavinga, Lucas Da Cunha, Maghnes Akliouche; Bradley Barcola, Esteban Lepaul, Desire DoueVan Bommel relishing clash with ‘special’ ZidaneIt will also be a second game in charge for Zidane, whose France debut on Friday was a 1-0 win in Turkiye where goal scorer Mbappe was injured.“It is special to coach against someone like that,” Mark van Bommel said.“He was an exceptional footballer, and I played against him once, with Barca against Real Madrid. If a dribbling move is named ⁠after you, then you must have done pretty well. As a ⁠coach too, of course. He is a good coach, that’s clear.“I think it’s a shame that Mbappe isn’t there, because you always want to have the best footballers playing against you. I don’t know exactly what injury he has, ⁠but I would have liked him to be there,” the Belgium coach added.Belgium’s new boss Van Bommel calls on team to keep up attacking approachBelgium coach Mark van ‌Bommel is relishing the opportunity to pit his wits against Zinedine Zidane, but is ⁠disappointed that Kylian ⁠Mbappe will be missing when they host France in the Nations League on Monday.Van Bommel got off to a dream start in his first game in charge ⁠of Belgium with a 2-0 away win over Italy in their Group A1 game on Friday and said he wants his side to keep up the attacking approach they showed in ⁠Rome.“I started [my coaching tenure] last Monday by emphasising intensity and willingness to work,” he told a news conference on Sunday.“The idea has to remain the same. Of course, you have to take the quality of the opponent into account, but that does not change our style of play.“If you are ‌beaten in a situation, that’s not a problem. As long as everyone knows what they have to do.”Belgium’s Dutch head coach Mark van Bommel during a training session [File: Bruno Fahy/AFP]Zidane tells players to ‘enjoy the moment’The 1998 World Cup winner said his players should savour the opportunity of playing for ‌the national team.“There are some great matches ahead. You really have to enjoy the moment,” Zidane said.“That’s what I tell them because football goes so quickly.“Look, I’m 54, I’m here now and I can’t ‌play ‌anymore. So I tell them to enjoy the moment because it flies by and the French national team is something so beautiful that I want them to experience these moments.”Get instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know when big stories happen.Zidane expects tough challenge from BelgiumFrance’s coach expects a tough outing ⁠against Belgium, who beat Italy 2-0 in their opening Nations League Group A1 game in Rome on Friday.“There is also a coach [Mark van Bommel] on the other side who has just arrived and who will be putting things in place. It is ⁠a very good team. They had a very good World Cup and we know there are some outstanding individuals in this team.“And collectively, we know we’re ⁠going to have a difficult match tomorrow. But that’s what I ⁠find interesting. There are some great fixtures. That’s what you want when you’re competitive and enjoy playing football. You want to have big matches and this is another one.”France coach Zidane to ring changes for clash against BelgiumFrance coach Zinedine Zidane has ‌promised changes to his side for Monday’s Nations League match away to Belgium after losing ⁠captain Kylian Mbappe to ⁠injury.“There ⁠will definitely be changes. How many, you will see tomorrow,” a good-humoured Zidane told Sunday’s pre-match news conference.“But yes, we knew we were going to play four matches in a very short period, especially ⁠this one between Turkiye and Belgium, with the travel in between. So obviously, we are going to rotate the team a little.”The match in Brussels is the second of four for France during the international window. They host Italy in Paris on Friday before facing Belgium again at the Stade de France on Monday, October ‌5.Zidane said his immediate focus was on getting to know his players and helping them understand his demands, although results remained a priority.“Everything is important, but the most important thing is getting to know one another,” he said.“The idea is always to prepare the matches properly, even if we don’t have much training time and especially because we can also do things through video. And then, of course, it’s about winning the match because we’re all competitors and when we step onto ⁠the pitch, we want to win.”Zidane on the touchline during France’s 1-0 win over Turkiye [Murad Sezer/Reuters]