Both the national football team and the top Belgium division have a reputation for physical play.

This came as a result of a lack of technically skilled foreign players allowed to play in Belgium due to legal restrictions.

This changed after the Bosman ruling which forced the liberalization of the football player market in Europe.

In response, Belgian clubs began to buy unknown players from Eastern Europe, South America and Africa.

[1] Indeed, some of the most talented players in Europe have played in Belgian clubs, including Yaya Touré, Jean-Pierre Papin, Daniel Amokachi, Antolín Alcaraz and David Rozehnal were discovered at Club Brugge; Sunday Oliseh and Victor Ikpeba at RFC Liège; Jan Koller, Nii Lamptey and Aruna Dindane at Anderlecht; and Mido at Gent.

Others who began or launched their professional careers in Belgium include William Carvalho, Emmanuel Eboué, Romaric, Gervinho, Didier Zokora, Arthur Boka, Ivica Dragutinović, Mario Stanić, Morten Olsen, Dorinel Munteanu, André Cruz, Seol Ki-hyeon, Kennet Andersson, Klas Ingesson, Aaron Mokoena, Michaël Ciani, Nicolás Pareja, Oguchi Onyewu, Rabiu Afolabi, Cheick Tioté, Peter Odemwingie, Joseph Yobo, Ouwo Moussa Maazou, Milan Jovanović, Ognjen Vukojević, Ivan Perišić, Nikica Jelavić, Demba Ba, Dante, Bryan Ruiz and Rob Rensenbrink.

Because of the physical nature of Belgian football, it has tended to primarily produce talented defensive players.

These include Jean-Marie Pfaff, Eric Gerets, Leo Clijsters, Michel Preud'homme, Georges Grün, Philippe Albert, Franky Van Der Elst, Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen.

In comparison, only few attacking Belgian footballers have received international recognition: Enzo Scifo, Jan Ceulemans, Marc Degryse, Luc Nilis and Émile Mpenza.

However, this latter trend is slowly starting to change, with Belgium producing such offensive talents as Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Mousa Dembélé, Christian Benteke, Kevin Mirallas, Marouane Fellaini, Kevin De Bruyne and Dries Mertens, among others.

The Royal Belgian Football Association therefore enforced a new rule in 2016, stating that after a takeover, a club cannot move more than 30 kilometres from its original location.

[11] For historical reasons, many Flemish clubs changed their names from French to Dutch between the beginning of the 20th century and the late 1960s.

In recent history, clubs representing immigrant communities have come into existence and sometimes use names that are in neither of Belgium's official languages (the now defunct clubs Türkgucun Ozburun and Türkiyemspor Zaventem, or the still-existing Agrupación Oviedo-Asturiana, existing only in a league outside the Belgian FA now, from Brussels, being examples).

The following is a partial list of common football club name prefixes and suffixes in Belgium's three official languages.

After World War I, Belgian football was dominated by clubs from the cities of Antwerp and Bruges.

Shortly after World War II, Anderlecht replaced Union and Daring as the dominant team in Brussels.

Its cross-city rivals at the time were, in succession, Union, Daring and Racing White, later renamed R.W.D.M., still later named FC Brussels.

White Star Bruxelles, a club from the Brussels suburban region, technically won promotion to the top flight after the 2015-16 season but due to the club's debts, both the Belgian FA and the courts did not award them a licence to practice professional football.

Two teams from Hainaut Province are currently playing in First Division A: Excel Mouscron and Charleroi SC.

Currently, no clubs from the province of Namur are playing in the top two levels of Belgian football.

The latter is the only club from the German-speaking Community of Belgium (based on an administrative area in east of Liège Province) ever to have competed in the top flight.

Only one club from Luxembourg Province plays near the top level of Belgian football: Excelsior Virton, who won promotion to the First Division B after the 2018-19 season.

In the beginning the Belgian FA discouraged women to play football and advised them to opt for sports such as volleyball.

Clubs who have been successful in past or present in Belgian women's football include Brussels Dames '71 (currently the women's team of Anderlecht), Rapide Wezemaal, Astro Begijnendijk, Eva's Kumtich, Sinaai Girls, Standard Fémina Liège, Dames Eendracht Aalst (previously tied to the club KSC Eendracht Aalst which was also successful in men's football).

After the 2014–15 season, the two countries chose to disband the BeNe League and relaunch their own national top flights; the Dutch revived their women's Eredivisie, while Belgium chose instead to create a totally new top flight, the Super League.