Koni De Winter
Squad number 16 · Milan
Their 2026 World Cup
Koni De Winter travelled to the 2026 World Cup with Belgium, wearing number 16, without ever getting on the pitch. His side played 6 matches (3 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat) and bowed out in the quarter-finals, beaten by Spain 2-1.
Defence went to B. Mechele (6 matches, 570′) and T. Castagne (6 matches, 478′).
Another 2 players in the Belgium squad ended up the same way, without a single minute. The full run is on the Belgium team page.
Biography
Koni De Winter (born 12 June 2002) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as centre-back for Serie A club AC Milan and the Belgium national team.
Early career De Winter played in City Pirates Antwerp until 2015. He played the 2015–16 season in the Lierse SK youth academy. The following season, De Winter moved to the Zulte Waregem youth academy. In the summer of 2018, he moved to Italian Serie A club Juventus, becoming the first Belgian footballer ever to play for them. Initially joining the youth academy, in the 2018–19 season, De Winter made 27 appearances and scored one goal with the under-17s. In the 2019–20 season, he made 8 appearances with the under-19s team. The following season, De Winter made 23 appearances with the under-19s often playing as captain.
First call-up by Juventus and 2021–22 season On 28 October 2020, De Winter was called up by Juventus' first team coach Andrea Pirlo for a UEFA Champions League match against Spanish La Liga club Barcelona. On 20 February 2021, he renewed his contract until 2024.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) · text adapted from the article.
See all the tournament stats on the World Cup data hub.
Photo: Bryan Berlin · Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)