Belgium national football team final tournament under Spanish manager Roberto Martínez, becoming the first European team besides hosts Russia to do so. The team reached an all-time high third place in the World Football Elo Ratings after their win in the round of 16. Belgium was eliminated in the semi-finals by eventual champions France, but won the third place play-off against England. In home matches, the team's outfield players traditionally wear the colours of the Belgian flag: black, yellow and red. Red dominates the strip and is often the sole jersey colour. The away colours are usually white, black or both; in 2014, the
Tricolour (flag) the German "Kleinstaaterei" and the desire for German Unification. It was at first illegal in the German Confederation, but was adopted as the national flag at the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848/9. The flag of Belgium was introduced in a similar context, in 1831, its colours taken from the flag used in the Brabant Revolution of 1789. The first national flag of the New World inspired by this symbolism was the flag of Mexico, adopted when the First Mexican Empire gained independence from Spain in 1821. After 1848, the young republican nation states continued to pick triband designs, but now more