VANCOUVER — Belgium has defeated New Zealand 5-1 in Vancouver’s final World Cup group stage match at BC Place, dashing the dreams of the Kiwi team and its supporters.

The win for the European team means it will advance to the knockout round, while New Zealand is eliminated from the tournament.

But despite the score at the final whistle, Kiwi fan Andrew Millar said he’s “immensely proud” of his team.

“Even just scoring a couple of goals at this World Cup has been — it’s made us super proud,” he said in an interview.

The 37-year-old travelled from the Oceania country to watch his team play two matches: Egypt and Belgium. He called the trip a “one-in-a-lifetime” experience, highlighting that the last time its men’s team qualified was in 2010.

“It’s just been an amazing trip just to see the New Zealand players on the field and to wear the flag,” he said, gesturing to the one he wore as a cape.

Fellow Kiwi fan Addy Johnson travelled with her family from Hamilton, New Zealand, to follow the team and attend every World Cup match they played.

“Being like the lowest-ranked team at the World Cup, we didn’t really have high expectations coming into the tournament,” the 17-year-old said in an interview after the match.

New Zealand fans appeared outnumbered by Belgium supporters in the sold-out crowd of 52,497 spectators.

The sound in the stadium grew loud when Belgium fans hit 149 decibels just before the 8 p.m. kickoff, according to the big screen, while New Zealand fans struck 125 decibels.

Johnson said the fan disparity didn’t faze her, adding it’s expected with a country as small as New Zealand.

“I’m just really grateful to be able to come and watch this, and I’m really proud,” she concluded.

While the Kiwis are heading home, Belgium will head south to Seattle, where they will play a round-of-32 game on Wednesday. Their opponent is not yet clear.

But for Belgium fan Yevhenii Oliinyk, it won’t matter.

Oliinyk was adorned in red, black, and gold, with two Belgian flags painted on his cheeks. He said even though he is from Ukraine and lives in Vancouver, his favourite players wear Belgian colours, which means he does too.

Oliinyk said he was expecting the win on Friday, and now that the team is through, he’s set his sights on the trophy.

“It’s going to be win-win-win, and after that: World Cup,” Oliinyk said.

Others who attended Friday’s match were just grateful to be in the stadium. Vancouver local Varun Nair was one.

Though he said he’s usually rooting for Argentina or Spain during the World Cup, he chose to support the Belgium team on Friday.

“If you told 14-year-old me that I’m going to be watching a World Cup game in person, I probably wouldn’t have believed it,” he said.

Nair called the experience “surreal” and urged other Canadian fans not to miss out.

“It was worth it just for the experience,” he said. “This is in your city, and it’s happening. I think it’s worth it.”

Friday’s match was the fifth World Cup game played in Vancouver. BC Place will next host a round-of-32 knockout match featuring Switzerland on July 2, followed by a round-of-16 match on July 7.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2026.