The word 'Belgium' hardly exists in Belgium. A country - birthplace of Tintin and home to European Union and NATO - constantly lives in paradoxes and remains suspended in a great divide. Its existence is not extolled by any national narrative. There are no national political parties, no national TV channel and not even a national newspaper.
ALSO READ: France ready to show Henry he picked wrong sideIn a way, Belgium is united by its unique divisiveness. In the north lies Dutch-speaking Flanders and there is French-speaking Wallonia in the south. In between exists Brussels, the capital and where the language divide is at its severest. But this is also the most multicultural, multiethnic, cosmopolitan pocket of the country.
Amid this ethnic quagmire, an obscure Belgian footballer named
Jean-Marc Bosman
came to stir the hornet's nest some three decades ago, changing the contour of the country's as well as Europe's football landscape.
In 1990, Bosman, then a 25-year-old, was approaching the end of his contract at Belgian side RFC Liege. His stint with the club was anything but impressive and he saw a chance to improve when offered a better contract from French second division side Dunkirk.
Then, a player could leave the club only after the end of his contract or the club received an agreed fee from a buying club. Liege demanded a fee, Dunkirk could not meet it and Bosman's plan of trying his luck elsewhere fell through. Adding insult to injury, Bosman's salary at Liege was cut by around 75 per cent. Hit hard by financial distress and unable to move anywhere, Bosman took on his club, the Belgian FA and UEFA in a legal battle at the European Court of Justice. Five years later, he emerged from the European Court of Justice with a victory that not only added a new word to sporting dictionary - 'Bosman' - but also ushered in a new era of multiculturalism in European football.
During pre-Bosman days, clubs could not play more than three foreign players while playing in Europe. The new ruling made the clubs free to play all EU players, thus bringing in a seismic shift in the way the game came to be played with the free movement of players.
At this World Cup, Roberto Martinez's Belgium are the product of post-Bosman benefits.
Vincent Kompany
,
Romelu Lukaku
, Michy Batshuayi,
Marouane Fellaini
,
Nacer Chadli
and Mousa Dembélé -- all didn't think twice before making their choice known to the world.
For these stars, Belgium have become the promised land, and in turn, Belgium - ravaged by constant fight between Flanders and Wallonia - has found its identity through them on football's biggest stage.
Under previous coach
Marc Wilmots
, Belgium's 'golden generation' failed to live up to its billing. A significant part of it was largely owing to the fact that the Dutch-speaking people in Flanders didn't believe in the French-speaking Wilmots.
Martinez inherited the fractured ego of a team which was bearing the fruit of Belgium's post-colonial immigration but remained divided at its core.
Martinez, who grew up in a similarly linguistically volatile Catalonia, realized Wilmots' predicament early on. He stayed away from the political debate and let the team speak only in football language. The result is now for everyone to see.
The key factor helping Martinez's cause is that English has become the lingua franca of the Belgian squad, forcing tension between Flemings and Walloons to take the back seat. Kompany, Lukaku and Hazard are the Premier League knights and that they speak a common language gave Martinez the blueprint to conquer the world.
Come Tuesday, Belgium will face France, another multicultural side, in the first of the semifinals with a lot at stake. The land of Tintin can only hope that, just like the fictional character's adventures, Belgium will find his voice and a global identity through the bravado of Kompany and Co this time around.