2011–12 in Belgian football

The 2011–12 football season in Belgium, which is the 109th season of competitive football in the country and runs from July 2011 until June 2012.

The Belgian national team started the 2011–12 season knowing they were still undefeated in 2011, but also knowing that they needed to make up for earlier mistakes during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. With Germany topping the qualifying group with the maximum amount of points after seven matches, the battle for second place and the resulting play-offs place was between Belgium and Turkey. Turkey was one point down, but had a game in hand.

On 2 September 2011, all looked fine for the Belgians until the last few minutes, as Rauf Aliyev scored the equalizer for Azerbaijan against Belgium in Baku, while on the same day, Turkey scored a 96th-minute winner against Kazakhstan. Turkey now lead Belgium by one point and had a game in hand. Four days later, Belgium partially recovered mentally by beating the United States in a friendly, while Turkey dropped points away to Austria, only drawing 0–0.

Turkey lost second place again as they were beaten 1–3 at home to Germany, while Belgium successfully put Kazakhstan away 4–1. On the last matchday, however, Belgium needed to match the result of Turkey and while Turkey hosted Azerbaijan, Belgium played an away game in Germany, who had won all their matches so far. The miracle did not happen for Belgium as they lost 3–1 and Turkey won 1–0, causing Belgium to miss out on yet another major tournament, still waiting for one since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The general feeling in Belgium was one of a missed chance, as the Belgian team had shown promising football throughout the campaign, but often were not able to get or hold on to a needed result. Too many mistakes were made during the campaign, with many citing the 4–4 home draw with Austria, the 1–1 home draw with Turkey and the 1–1 away draw with Azerbaijan, which all should have been won. Coach Georges Leekens, however, not blamed, as his goal was to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

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