
Courtois has not played with Belgium since June 2023 after a dispute with former national team coach Dominico Tedisco about the armband, but he returned after the dismissal of Tedisco and the appointment of Rudi Garcia in January to replace him.
Belgium’s main goalkeeper Queen Castles announced his retirement from international play in protest against the decision to return Courtois, while other colleagues criticized Real Madrid goalkeeper.
It is expected that the veteran goalkeeper (32 years) will speak to the media tomorrow, Tuesday, but his return to the team did not go unnoticed with his former coach Mark Filmots, who played Cortois under his leadership 41 international matches between 2012 and 2016.
“I couldn’t summon it at the time. I would have played these two games without it,” Filmots said of Belgium’s matches against Ukraine in the European Nations League in Spain on Thursday and in Jinak on Sunday.
“I would have seen, heard and felt first with the pulse of the players inside the team in this case. I was going to talk to Castles, and I showed respect for the players who were there and who played without Courtois, and only then maybe I would have merged Courtois into the squad.”
Former Belgium defender Philip Albert, who is currently working as a more critical television analyst for Courtois.
“He withdrew from the national team a week before his wedding. He offended our national team,” Albert said.
Garcia said in the announcement of the squad last week that there will be a discussion with Courtois about his exit from the squad and his previous criticism of his teammates.
“Tebo is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, if not the best, and it is great to be in the squad,” Garcia said last Friday.
He added: “We will talk to the group once about what happened, and that’s all. This is a new adventure, and I want to move forward.”
Courtois arrived at the Belgian team’s training camp today, Monday, a large -scale local media coverage.