Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will not travel with Belgium for their Euro 2024 qualifier in Estonia on Tuesday as local media reported he is unhappy about being passed over for the captaincy in a 1-1 home draw with Austria on last weekend.
Belgium team officials confirmed on Monday that Courtois will not be part of the traveling group, but did not give a reason. After the international retirement of Eden Hazard following the disastrous World Cup campaign in Qatar, the team captaincy went to Kevin De Bruyne.
The latter missed the match against Austria through injury and coach Domenico Tedesco handed over the armband to Romelu Lukaku, intending to make Courtois captain against Estonia.
According to local media, this angered the goalkeeper, who also rebuked several teammates in the locker room after the draw with Austria, and made the decision not to travel for Tuesday’s game. Belgium have four points from their first two qualifying matches in Group F and also won 3-0 in Sweden.
