Toby Alderweireld has retired from Belgium duty, with the defender the latest member of their Golden Generation to hang up his boots.

The 34-year-old, who played 127 times for his country in a career spanning 13 years, is the third most-capped player in Red Devils history.

Former Tottenham and Atletico Madrid centre-back Alderweireld represented Belgium at five consecutive major tournaments, including three World Cups and two European Championships, and was a member of the squad that finished third at Russia 2018.

But following a disappointing group stage exit in Qatar last year, he has now become the latest experienced member of their squad to call time on his international career.

"As a little boy, I dreamed of playing for the national team," Alderweireld told the Belgium national team's official website. "I am very grateful and proud that this dream has become a reality.

"I can look back, 14 years later, on 127 international matches, three World Cups, two European Championships and countless beautiful memories.

"With pain in my heart, I announce that I will retire from the Red Devils with immediate effect I have given myself completely, physically and mentally.

"I want to thank all my team-mates and the staff for the unforgettable moments we shared together. Without them, none of this would have been possible."

Alderweireld made his debut in 2009 during a 1-1 draw with Chile, though he did not become a regular until 2013.

He subsequently was a member of their squad at the Brazil 2014, Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups, as well as Euro 2016 and Euro 2020.

His retirement follows team-mate Eden Hazard's decision to bow out following their disappointing Qatar campaign.

Belgium will play their first games under new coach Domenico Tedesco later this month, with a Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden and a friendly against Germany.

Departing Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez revealed his "huge disappointment" after the Red Devils crashed out of the World Cup.

The world's second-ranked side suffered a surprise elimination in Qatar after finishing third in Group F following a goalless draw with Croatia.

It brought the curtain down on a poor tournament for 2018 semi-finalists Belgium, who struggled past Canada in their opening game before suffering a shock defeat by eventual group winners Morocco.

The Croatia stalemate also spelt the end for Martinez, who confirmed his departure as Belgium head coach after six years in the role.

"We were ourselves today," he reflected. "We had very good performances and frustrated Croatia in the first half, but couldn't take chances in the second half.

"We got in very good positions, but didn't execute them well. Second half, we looked strong and probably created more clear-cut chances than in 2018.

"We showed heart, and we saw a group that really cares, which we missed in previous two games - we weren't ourselves [in the first two games].

"Due to quality and experience, we won the first game [against Canada], but we were not ourselves. Today was completely different.

"Morocco was disappointing, and we're out of the World Cup because margins are small - there's no margin for error. Morocco took their chances and Croatia now rightly progress through. It's a huge disappointment for us."

Martinez also explained his reasons for Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard, who was only introduced in the 87th minute at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, starting Belgium's must-win showdown on the bench.

It came after a tumultuous week, in which he dismissed reports of a rift within the camp as "fake news" at his pre-match news conference.

"Lukaku couldn't play the 90. We saw in the second half, he lacked physicality," Martinez said. 

"We used him where there were bigger gaps and got him in the box. He moved well and got in good positions, but missed chances.

"I'm happy with the way we planned for this game. The players that started gave us what we wanted, and then we could have scored three goals in second half, and it would have been a different story.

"We were here for seven games and couldn't take a risk on players, it would not have been responsible to play [Lukaku] from the start, same with Eden Hazard."

Much of the discussion surrounding Belgium's underwhelming campaign in Qatar has focused on the ageing of a so-called 'golden generation' of players, with Kevin De Bruyne stating the Red Devils' squad was "too old" ahead of the finals.

Defender Toby Alderweireld insisted the senior players within the squad are yet to make a decision on their futures.

"I think as a team, you have to take the responsibility," he added. "I think we played a very good game. We could have won.

"I think we lost the qualification in the last game against Morocco. If we didn't lose this game, it was a total different game. This is the reality. It hurts.

"It's not every year that there's a tournament. We'll see what everyone is doing, but I think it's too close to the last game to decide.

"Everyone goes home now, goes to their club and decides what they're going to do. This hurts, it's normal, but decisions are not made after the game."

Belgium "need to improve" if they are to stand a realistic chance of going deep at the 2022 World Cup, according to defender Toby Alderweireld.

It was Alderweireld's long pass that created the only goal of the game for Michy Batshuayi as Belgium struggled to make much headway against an athletic and well-drilled Canada team.

Alphonso Davies saw an early penalty saved by Red Devils goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Canada also squandered a host of first-half chances as Belgium held on to a precious win to take an early lead at the top of Group F.

Alderweireld said: "We didn't play our best game, but we fought hard, especially in the second half and it's better to improve things with three points in the bag than no points.

"We weren't good enough on the ball, we didn't create the right spaces and in the second half we could have hurt them a lot more. Our last pass has to be a lot better.

"The first step is to get through but we need to improve."

Alderweireld's sentiments were shared by fellow defender Timothy Castagne, who felt Canada's no-fear approach made them tricky opponents.

The Leicester City full-back said: "We were expecting that, it's not easy to play against.

"We tried to play through them but we could not find the free men. When we did, we had some good opportunities but couldn't finish them.

"We can thank Thibaut for keeping us in the game first half. After that we defended pretty strong together, which hasn't always been our strongest suit so that's good."

With Argentina and Germany having already lost in Qatar to unheralded opponents, Castagne was just pleased Belgium avoided joining the ranks of beaten favourites, adding: "If you get the win, you get confidence even if it wasn't our best game.

"Some big teams have lost so it's good to get off to a good start points-wise."

While Belgium were relieved, it was a night of pride and frustration for Canada. They emerged with enormous credit, inspired by the shrewd leadership of head coach John Herdman, but will rue their profligacy in front of goal.

Defender Steven Vitoria said: "We deserved more against a world-class side. When we play like that we'll be a lot closer to winning than anything else. It was a fantastic performance but at this level you have to get the win.

"The intention is to be fearless on the biggest stage, this is a new Canada and we gave that statement to the world. But no excuses, we're here to win and we're not satisfied."

Toby Alderweireld has joined his hometown club Royal Antwerp on a three-year deal.

Alderweireld only joined Al-Duhail from Tottenham for a reported fee of 65.34million QAR (£13m) on a three-year contract last July, but the Belgium defender's short stay in Qatar has come to an end.

Antwerp on Friday confirmed the 33-year-old has put pen to paper on a contract until 2025.

Alderweireld has never played professionally in his homeland, having joined Ajax at the age of 15.

The Antwerp-born centre-back spent five years with Ajax before joining Atletico Madrid and was loaned Southampton prior to a move to Spurs, where he made 236 appearances.

Alderweireld has won 121 caps for the Red Devils and is set to be back in Qatar to play in the World Cup this year.

Toby Alderweireld said star-studded Belgium have an "unbelievable" desire to win Euro 2020 as they prepare to face defending champions Portugal in the round of 16.

Belgium and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal will go head-to-head in Seville for a place in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Number one in the world rankings, Belgium have never won a major tournament, having finished runners-up at the European Championship in 1980, while the Red Devils finished third at the 2018 World Cup.

Belgium have reached the knockout stages in each of their last five appearances at a major tournament (Euros and World Cup), progressing to the semi-final in their previous one at Russia 2018. Their defeat to eventual winners France three years ago is the only one of their last 10 games at major tournaments that they have failed to win (W9).

Boasting a golden generation, including Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Youri Tielemans and Thibaut Courtois, veteran defender Alderweireld is bullish about Belgium's chances.

"I want to see it differently," Alderweireld replied when asked if Portugal have an advantage given their 2016 success. "I can't talk about how they feel or how they think, the only thing I can say is that we are very hungry.

"The desire is unbelievable with us to achieve big things for our country and for this team. So we will do everything in our powers to beat them."

On whether this Belgium generation can be the one to deliver a trophy, Tottenham's Alderweireld said: "We will do everything in our powers to become that generation. I think we have already shown that we can beat any team if we have a good day.

"But we know it is going to be a tough opponent, but we believe in our ideas and in our quality."

Belgium will come up against superstar Ronaldo, who equalled Ali Daei for the most international goals in men's football with his 109th following a two-goal haul in Portugal's 2-2 draw against France.

But Alderweireld and Belgium are wary of more than just Ronaldo, the 32-year-old adding: "I think they are a very difficult team to beat. They have a lot of quality, the team is very compact, they know how to play big games in big tournaments.

"A lot of experience as well, so I think we have to be top to beat them. Of course everyone talks about Cristiano Ronaldo, we know he is one of the best in the world. But not only him, I think they have a lot of quality around him as well who create chances for him, So again we have to be top to beat them."

Belgium have only failed to score in two of their last 58 games under head coach Roberto Martinez, averaging exactly three goals per game in this stretch of fixtures (174 in total).

The two games they have been shut out came in the 2018 World Cup semi-final against France (0-1), and in their most recent meeting with Portugal – a 0-0 draw in June 2018.

Belgium's victory over Finland last time out marked their ninth win at the World Cup and Euros combined under Martinez, with the Spaniard now holding the outright managerial record for major tournament wins with the Red Devils.