Belgium v Egypt prediction, lineups & World Cup 2026 tips

Belgium begin their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group G campaign against Egypt at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday, with Rudi Garcia's side carrying high hopes, and a nagging question mark about Lukaku's fitness.

Jon Fisher

Published

Mon 15 Jun, 10:54

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Belgium arrive at the FIFA World Cup 2026 carrying the weight of a generation that never quite delivered. Rudi Garcia's side begin Group G against Egypt at Lumen Field in Seattle on Monday evening, and for Kevin De Bruyne, almost certainly appearing at his last World Cup, it is a chance to finally go deep into a tournament that has so far eluded Belgium's most gifted crop of players. Their early exit from the 2022 Qatar World Cup, when they failed to score against Croatia or Morocco and went out at the group stage, left a scar. This time, the expectation is that they at least start with three points. Egypt, though, will have other ideas.

Belgium

1–1

Full time

Egypt

Mon 15 Jun, 20:00•Lumen Field

Belgium finished top of UEFA qualifying Group J with 29 goals scored and just seven conceded across eight unbeaten matches, and they thrashed Tunisia 5-0 in their final pre-tournament friendly in Brussels. Garcia has since named a 26-man squad that retains the old guard, De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku and Thomas Meunier, while introducing younger talent in Amadou Onana, Jérémy Doku and 21-year-old Matias Fernandez-Pardo. The problem is at the back. Belgium conceded five goals across two qualifiers against Wales alone, and Garcia is still patching together a centre-back pairing in front of Courtois. Against a side built to hurt teams on the counter-attack, that is a genuine concern.

Egypt come in as a side that are organised and difficult to break down, but they carry genuine attacking threat that goes well beyond their Group G billing. Coach Hossam Hassan, who is also Egypt's all-time leading scorer with 69 goals, guided his side through an unbeaten CAF qualifying campaign, topping their group with 26 points from 10 matches. They then reached the AFCON 2025 semi-finals before losing to Senegal, which may leave a residual psychological mark. What Egypt do have is two Premier League forwards in Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, who between them have troubled the best defences in Europe week-in, week-out. Salah, who captains the side, left Liverpool this summer having scored 257 goals for the club and arrives in Seattle just two goals shy of becoming Egypt's all-time top scorer.

Belgium went into the tournament unbeaten in 13 matches, a run that includes that 5-0 demolition of Tunisia and a 5-2 victory over hosts USA in a warm-up game. Garcia has been in charge since January 2025 and lost just one of his first ten games in the role. Doku contributed seven goals and assists during qualifying, and no European player created more chances from open play. Egypt's pre-tournament build-up included a 1-0 friendly win over Russia in Cairo, with Marmoush featuring until the 72nd minute, and a test against Brazil on June 6. With Salah having just departed Liverpool and Marmoush coming off a breakthrough season at Manchester City, eight goals in 36 appearances, Egypt's attack will be at or near its peak.

Last 6 · most recent left

Belgium

No recent formW0 D0 L0

Egypt

No recent formW0 D0 L0

Last 2 meetings · most recent first

Home wins

Draws

Away wins

Goals · H / A

2 / 3

Team news for Belgium v Egypt

Belgium: There are no confirmed suspensions ahead of this Group G opener. Romelu Lukaku is included in the squad despite a season heavily disrupted by muscle injuries at Napoli, with reports suggesting he has played only around an hour of competitive club football in 2025-26. His match sharpness is a question Garcia will have to manage carefully. Kevin De Bruyne, who underwent surgery in October and returned to fitness in March, is expected to start. Thibaut Courtois starts in goal. Doku, Tielemans and Onana are all fit and available. Garcia is expected to set up in a 4-2-3-1.

Egypt: Mohamed Salah captains the side. No significant injury concerns have been reported in the lead-up to the tournament. Marmoush is fit after featuring in the friendly against Russia. Hossam Hassan is expected to deploy a 4-2-3-1 designed to stay compact and hit on the counter, with Salah and Marmoush as the primary outlets. Mohamed El-Shenawy starts in goal.

Garcia is expected to name his strongest available side from the off, with De Bruyne as the central attacking threat and Doku and Trossard providing width. Lukaku leads the line despite his injury-interrupted season. Hassan will likely set up with Salah on the right and Marmoush central, with Trezeguet or Zizo supporting.

Belgium: Courtois; Meunier, Ngoy, Theate, De Cuyper; Onana, Tielemans; Trossard, De Bruyne, Doku; Lukaku

Egypt: El-Shenawy; Hany, Ibrahim, Rabia, Fatouh; Lashin, Fathy; Salah, Trezeguet, Zizo; Marmoush

Belgium v Egypt kicks off at 8pm BST on Monday, 15 June. The match is live on BBC One in the United Kingdom, with free streaming available via BBC iPlayer. The World Cup 2026 is broadcast free-to-air across BBC and ITV, with no subscription required.

Belgium are making their 15th World Cup appearance, no European nation has qualified for as many tournaments without winning the trophy.
Egypt have played seven World Cup matches without a single victory, second only to Honduras (9) on the all-time list of winless nations.
Egypt won three of the four previous head-to-head meetings, including a 2-1 victory over Belgium in Kuwait City in November 2022. Belgium's biggest win came with a 3-0 result in June 2018.
Belgium went unbeaten in all eight UEFA qualifying matches, scoring 29 goals and conceding seven. Egypt were equally unbeaten in their 10 CAF qualifying games, topping their group with 26 points.

Headline prediction · our pick

✗ MissConfidence · medium

match result: belgium to win

Belgium have the better squad and De Bruyne pulling the strings in what is almost certainly his last World Cup gives them an attacking edge that Egypt simply cannot match for quality across the pitch. Garcia's side should take three points. The worry is the back line, slow, stitched together, and facing Salah and Marmoush, who are two of the sharpest counter-attacking forwards in world football. Egypt will get at least one chance and they will likely take it. Expect Belgium to win, but not cleanly.

Best Price11/10bet365 · score 2-1

✗ Prediction missed

TIP 01✗ Miss

Correct Score: 2-1

Belgium's attacking quality points to two goals, De Bruyne, Doku and Lukaku (if fit) have the firepower. Egypt's backline is organised but their defence was tested in qualifying by strong African sides, and Belgium's wide players will find space. On the other side, Belgium's centre-back pairing is short on World Cup experience, and Salah has scored in World Cup games before, he netted twice at Russia 2018. A 2-1 to Belgium reflects the likely pattern of the game: a Red Devils goal, an Egyptian reply, and a Belgian winner.

TIP 02✗ Miss

Over 2.5 Goals: Over

Belgium's last five pre-tournament results included a 5-0 win over Tunisia, a 5-2 win over the USA, and a qualifying campaign that produced 29 goals in eight matches, an average of 3.6 per game. Egypt's counter-attacking approach means they will not sit and absorb for 90 minutes. Their attacking pair are capable of converting one clear chance. With Belgium's defensive fragility factored in, three or more goals in this fixture is a strong probability, and the odds around evens offer genuine value.

TIP 03✓ Hit

Both Teams to Score: Yes

Belgium conceded five goals against Wales in two qualifying matches and are going into this game with a back four that has limited international experience together as a unit. Salah has 67 international goals in 115 appearances and arrives at his second World Cup free of the shoulder injury that curtailed his 2018 campaign. Marmoush scored eight times for Manchester City this season. Belgium will score, they have too much quality not to, but this Egypt attack is sharp enough to punish them at least once. BTTS-Yes is the most reliable angle in this fixture.

TIP 04✗ Miss

Anytime Goalscorer: Kevin De Bruyne

De Bruyne scored six goals in Belgium's World Cup qualifying campaign, making him one of the tournament's most prolific midfielders heading into the group stage. At 34, this is almost certainly his final World Cup and he will be driven to perform on the biggest stage. He operates as the number ten in Garcia's 4-2-3-1 and will take set-pieces and drive into the box. Six goals in eight qualifying games is the clearest data point available, and his price around 4.5 reflects his deeper-lying role rather than his actual goal threat.

TIP 05✓ Hit

Double Chance: Home or Draw

Despite the H2H record favouring Egypt with three wins to Belgium's one, those meetings were all friendlies with no competitive context. Belgium enter this fixture ranked ninth in the world by FIFA, 20 places above Egypt, and are unbeaten in 13 matches. The Opta supercomputer gives Belgium a 37.2% win probability against Egypt's 35.5%, but factoring in squad quality and the psychological weight of Belgium's 2022 failure, which will sharpen their focus, a Belgium win or draw is the more likely outcome. Double Chance Home or Draw covers the most probable set of results.

Build the Belgium v Egypt bet

BetFootball Builder · 3 Legs✗ Miss

Home Win

✗ Miss

Match Result

11/10

Belgium are 13 games unbeaten and own the strongest qualifying record in the group. A Belgium win is the anchor of this builder. It limits the combined odds to a realistic range and pairs naturally with a goals market, the two legs work together without being directly correlated, since Belgium can win a high-scoring game as easily as a tight one.

Yes

✓ Hit

Both Teams to Score

17/20

Adding BTTS-Yes tightens the winning scenario to one where Belgium take three points but Salah or Marmoush get Egypt on the board, exactly the 2-1 outcome the preview points to. It is not correlated with the Home Win leg because Belgium can win regardless of whether Egypt score. The Belgian defence's vulnerability against pace makes this a logical companion to the result pick.

Kevin De Bruyne

✗ Miss

Anytime Goalscorer

7/2

De Bruyne scored six times in qualifying and is Belgium's primary creative and goal threat in a 4-2-3-1. Adding him as an anytime scorer does not create direct correlation with the result leg, Belgium can win with goals from Doku, Lukaku, or Trossard. But De Bruyne's set-piece delivery and late runs into the box make him a credible scorer in any Belgium win. At 4.5, he boosts the builder's total odds into meaningful value territory.

Combined Price

313/19

Stake£10.00

Returns£174.83

Profit+£164.83

World Cup · season 2026 · Group GLive snapshot

#	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Belgium	3	1	2	0	+4	5
2	Egypt	3	1	2	0	+2	5
3	Iran	3	0	3	0	0	3
4	New Zealand	3	0	1	2	-6	1