The building designed by a Catalan that sustains Belgium's footballing miracle

BarcelonaWith only 11 million inhabitants, Belgium made history in the summer of 2018 by reaching the semifinals of the World Cup in Russia. Despite the defeat against France, its inhabitants received the footballers as if they were true heroes, with a great celebration in Brussels' Grand-Place. One of the most acclaimed was Robert Martínez from Balaguer, their coach. He took office in August 2016, intending to leave after two years. But with the success in the World Cup, which catapulted the country to number 1 in the FIFA rankings, he reconsidered. Aware that the golden generation of players (Courtois, Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, and company) had an expiration date, he became determined to build a legacy that went beyond titles, to prepare Belgian football to sustain its miracle in the future.

This is why he also became sporting director of the red devils and why, with the federation's approval, he invested the almost 20 million extra raised in Russia (financially, it was foreseen that Belgium would reach the quarter-finals) in a sports city. Until then, there was no specific space for the national team. The senior team trained at the Anderlecht facilities and the youth teams in other nearby fields; the rest of the departments were scattered across different buildings in the capital. Martínez personally oversaw the renovation of the building that would bring together all Belgian football activity, a talent factory in the style of Clairefontaine (France) or Las Rozas (Spain).Between Flanders and Wallonia

It was located in Tubize, 20 minutes by train from Brussels and in a politically neutral location, between Flanders, Wallonia and the capital. In fact, two of the training camps border the two large regions of a country that has three official languages: Dutch, French and German. In love with Belgian football since he managed Lukaku, Fellaini and Mirallas at Everton, since his arrival at the national team Robert Martínez became interested in the origin of each of his players, which marks their character and footballing abilities. The Flemish are more influenced by the Dutch school and the Walloons by the French philosophy. “Courtois is the perfect Belgian because he is half Walloon and half Flemish,” Martínez usually says, who this week has been dismissed from Portugal after falling against Spainfalling against Spain.On a 24-hectare site, fully operational since 2022, the Belgian football headquarters boasts more than a dozen football pitches, a hotel to accommodate players – formerly, footballers used to gather next to the airport – a restaurant, warehouses, a building housing all administrative departments, and even an auditorium. From here, the federation welcomes the families of adolescents who, for the first time, are called up to the national team.A footballing agora

Martínez insisted a lot so that the sports working group – selectors, technical assistants, analysts, etc. – of the different categories of the national team would coexist in the same space. In the room, each table corresponds to a team from U-15 up to the senior team, a key aspect for unifying concepts, methodology, and sharing information about potential footballers for the first team, often in an improvised way, without needing to schedule meetings or zooms of work. Before this was impossible. The will of the Lleida man was that the Belgian selection would work like a football club. And he was the manager, a position he had held for more than 10 years in English football.

It is at those tables that Martínez, Thierry Henry – who was his assistant – and the current coach Rudi Garcia began to hear about the young players Nathan Ngoy, Matías Fernández-Pardo – who preferred to represent Belgium over Spain – or Diego Moreira, all of whom featured prominently in this year's World Cup. They and those coming up from below are the natural successors to De Bruyne and Lukaku, who are spending their final days with the national team in America. They are the first great talents forged in Tubize.In fact, apart from Thibaut Courtois, the two main swords of the Belgian team that has reached the quarterfinals are Jérémy Doku, who has had a fantastic year at Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, and Charles De Ketelaere, author of two goals in the round of 16 against the United States in the controversial tie. Both are products of Bob Martínez, the architect of Belgium, who made them debut with the senior team when they were 18 and 19 years old, respectively. They lead the new generation of footballers born from the obsession of the man from Balaguer who projected a structure to sustain the footballing miracle of the small Belgian town and who this Friday faces Spain (9:00 PM, La1 and DAZN) in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.