Mike Penders called up to Belgian national team for Nations League matches against Italy, France, and Turkey
The 21-year-old Chelsea goalkeeper earns his first senior Belgium call-up as Thibaut Courtois sits out to manage his workload
Mike Penders is getting his shot. The 21-year-old goalkeeper, born on July 31, 2005, has been named in Belgium’s senior national team squad for the first time, as head coach Mark van Bommel looks to reshape the Red Devils ahead of a demanding UEFA Nations League stretch.
Van Bommel announced a 28-man squad on September 18, 2026, featuring eight players new to the senior setup since Belgium’s World Cup 2026 campaign. Penders is among them, alongside fellow uncapped goalkeepers Jari De Busser and Maarten Vandevoordt, and 21-year-old full-back Kyriani Sabbe.
Why now, and why Penders
The short answer: Thibaut Courtois is sitting this one out. Belgium’s first-choice goalkeeper opted not to join the squad in order to manage his workload, creating an opening that three uncapped ‘keepers will compete to fill.
Penders appeared on the bench during a World Cup qualifier in November 2025, accumulated youth international experience across Belgium’s U17 through U21 programs, and has been on the radar of the national coaching staff for some time.
Penders joined Chelsea from Genk in 2025, a move that underlined the level of expectation surrounding him. Rather than sitting behind the first team at Stamford Bridge, he spent the 2025-26 season on loan at Strasbourg, getting competitive minutes in a top European league.
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What Belgium’s schedule looks like
The Red Devils have a packed fortnight ahead. Belgium faces Italy on September 25, then France on September 28, Turkey on October 2, and France again on October 5. Four matches in eleven days.
Two other absences shape the squad’s composition beyond Courtois. Jeremy Doku and Onana are both unavailable due to injury, meaning the Belgian attack will also need to reconfigure.
The bigger picture for Belgian football
Belgium’s so-called Golden Generation, the group built around players like Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, and Courtois that peaked around the 2018 World Cup, has been aging out of the picture gradually over the past several years.
The three goalkeepers in this squad, Penders, De Busser, and Vandevoordt, represent a genuine open competition for Belgium’s future between the posts. Courtois will not play forever, and whoever establishes themselves as the clear number two over the next twelve to eighteen months is likely to inherit the starting role when the time comes.