FRANCE 98 – Belgium: the twelfth player is in the kitchen

The man who knows the BELGIUM team players best is probably their official chef, Lievin Monballieu. Chef of the “Critérim”, a restaurant in Bruges, Lievin Monballieu has been serving players with discriminating taste in the Belgian first division for thirty years. In 1982, the Belgian football federation chose him out of three other Belgian gastronomy experts. Considered today as a “father” of the Belgian team, he has been following the Red Devils’ matches for 16 years straight. World Cups in Spain, Mexico, Italy, the United States, and finally in France. “I have followed every match, even the most insignificant friendly.” A football lover, Monballieu was chosen for his ambition, his experience, and particularly, his special dishes. After all these years spent with the players, the chef has learned to get his way. “I make up the menu and the players have to eat what I tell them whether they like it or not” he said with a smile. “However, since 1994, I’ve been more restricted in the meals I prepare. The physio’s orders are to cook more healthy meals. Unfortunately, we’ve had to say goodbye to chips in deference to pasta and other carbohydrates!”, says the Belgian cook, who proudly wears the national flag on his white apron right next to his name embroidered in red. Considered a key component of the Belgian organisation, the chef follows every one of the team’s matches “right from the official stand”, he confided. “As long as I’m involved with the team, I’ll carry on.” But, he added, “the day that I no longer feel the desire to go to work is the day I’ll walk away with no regrets… just a lot of good memories.”