Thibaut Courtois has made the bold move to request a one-year sabbatical from playing international football with Belgium after exiting the World Cup 2026.
Courtois was in tears after he was substituted in the 70th minute for Senne Lammens in the 2-1 loss to Spain, with his replacement’s mistake in the dying minutes led to Mikel Merino’s match-winner.
The Real Madrid goalkeeper looked distraught at full-time and is now considering his international future, with Lammens and Chelsea youngster Mike Penders likely to compete for the No 1 jersey should he step away from the Red Devils.
“I want to rest for a year with no Belgium games, and then play the Euro 2028 qualifiers and the Euro 2028. I don’t know if Belgium will agree to this.”
he could have continued in Belgium’s defeat to Spain in the World Cup 2026 quarter-finals after the goalkeeper sustained a thigh injury in the second-half.
Courtois was clutching his left thigh but admitted afterwards that he did not feel overly impacted by the injury, saying it was coach Rudi Garcia’s decision to make the change.
“It was with a long kick at the beginning of the second half; I felt something near my muscle,” Courtois said in the post-match mixed zone.
“I made some saves. I felt okay, so I continued. Then, I kicked it long again and I felt it a bit more. So then, you know it’s something muscular, and you need to be careful.
“Obviously, I wanted to continue but the coach wanted someone 100%. So OK, it’s his decision. I wanted to try to play maybe five, 10 more minutes to see because I was feeling good. I was making saves and I was not disturbed to make those saves.
“I was only disturbed to kick long. So that’s a decision of the coach – and it’s not a problem.”
Courtois also backed his fellow keeper Lammens after the error in the final minutes, insisting the Man Utd stopper has a “strong personality.”
“I gave him a big hug – there’s not much more I can do at this moment,” he said. “He’s a great goalkeeper and he will only get stronger from this, he has a lot of personality.
“For me personally, obviously you are not happy when you have to leave a quarter-final of a World Cup. So we will rest for the next few weeks and then see what the injury is.”
Spain next take on France in a titanic all-European clash in the semi-finals in Dallas on Tuesday in a repeat of the Euro 2024 semi-final, which Spain won 2-1.
