BRUSSELS, Feb 4 — Belgium coach Marc Wilmots announced today that the Red Devils will face Luxembourg, Sweden and Tunisia in friendlies ahead of the World Cup finals in Brazil.

Wilmots unveiled his team’s plans in the build-up to the finals on the Belgian football federation’s website, with the team to meet on May 19 and spend a week training in Genk before meeting neighbours Luxembourg in the city on May 26.

They will then move to Sweden, where they will play a friendly at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on June 1, before returning home for a training camp at the coastal resort of Knokke-Heist and a friendly with Tunisia in Brussels on June 7.

The squad will depart for Brazil on June 10, seven days before their opening World Cup match against Algeria.

“We will do all our physical work during the week in Sweden. The training camp there will also give us a change of scenery,” said Wilmots.

“The excitement surrounding the World Cup will start well before the tournament itself begins and we need to get away for a while.

“Stockholm is also ideal because of the climate, where the average temperature will be 22 degrees, comparable to the temperatures we will have in Sao Paulo.”

Belgium are in Group H at the World Cup along with Algeria, Russia and South Korea.

During the tournament they will be based in the town of Mogi das Cruzes, just outside Sao Paulo. — AFP