Chaos in Belgium
Ex-Bundesliga goalkeeper resigns after Courtois return
10.03.2025 – 06:44 a.m.Reading time: 1 min.
Actually, Thibaut Courtois no longer wanted to play for Belgium. Now he is probably returning – and thus triggers a different resignation.
Koen Casteels announced his resignation from the Belgian national team. The former Wolfsburg goalkeeper justified this step with the upcoming return of Thibaut Courtois.
In a podcast, the 32-year-old explained that the Belgian Football Association KBVB “rolls out the red carpet to the Real Madrid goalkeeper”. He finds this “very strange”, says Casteels.
Courtois had not played for the national team since June 2023. At that time, the FIFA World goalkeeper had resigned from the team after a dispute over the captain’s armband. National coach Domenico Tedesco, in the absence of Kevin de Bruyne, did not determine Courtois, but Romelu Lukaku as the captain of the European Championship qualification game against Austria. Since then, Casteels had guarded the “Red Devil” goal.
After Tedesco’s release in June, Rudi Garcia was introduced as the new national coach. The Frenchman made it clear early on that he rely on Courtois as a trivial goalkeeper. Garcia said: “Even if we have quality with Matz Sels and Koen Casteels in the goal, we count on Thibaut, which I think is the best goalkeeper in the world.”
Casteels criticized this decision and emphasized that he was not alone with his opinion: “There are many players who think as much as I do.” The 32-year-old switched to Al-Qadsiah to Al-Qadsiah after almost ten years at VfL Wolfsburg last summer.
The announcement of the Belgian squad for the National League relegation games against Ukraine is scheduled for Friday.