Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports | REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
Former NFL RB Leonard Fournette has been joking about his similarities to Romelu Lukaku during the World Cup
The World Cup is so massive that it spawned a running social media gag in the NFL community. During Belgium’s run in the tournament, former NFL running back and Super Bowl champion Leonard Fournette has been sharing photos with captions pretending to be Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku given the pair’s resemblance.
After Belgium’s 5-1 win over New Zealand in the group stage, former NFL running back Leonard Fournette took to Instagram and shared a photo of Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku pointing to the sky, with the caption “Played in my first World Cup enjoying this atmosphere,” while also tagging Lukaku.
Former NFL running back Leonard Fournette has been having fun with his resemblance to Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku
After Lukaku scored Belgium’s first goal in a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Senegal in the Round of 32, Fournette again posted a picture of the Napoli forward to Instagram, this time writing “Scored another goal today supa blessed.” Lukaku again responded with a comment.
Fournette’s running gag came to a crossroads when Belgium collided with the United States men’s national team in the Round of 16, which unfortunately ended in an embarrassing 4-1 loss for the USMNT.In his third post after the USA-Belgium match, Fournette dropped the bit and instead told the 33-year-old former Chelsea, Manchester United, and Inter Milan striker that he “can’t walk outside now because of this,” but still shared a friendly “congratulations my brother.”
Not only did Lukaku score the final insult-to-injury goal in the waning moments of the match, but he and his Belgium teammates also seemingly did President Trump’s routine dance to mock the national team and its fans in the wake of the controversy surrounding FIFA’s decision to allow striker Folarin Balogun to play in the game despite receiving a red card in the previous match.
Fournette and Lukaku do have links prior to this World Cup, as they were both represented by Jay-Z’s agency, Roc Nation Sports. The pair both parted ways with the agency in 2023, however.
Lukaku started the match on the bench for Belgium annd subbed on in the 66th minute after starting forward Charles De Ketelaere scored a first half brace. Lukaku added the final goal in Belgium’s 4-1 win, netting the 93rd goal of his international career in the 93rd minute of the match.
🇧🇪 En el gol de Lukaku los futbolistas de Bélgica festejaron haciendo el baile que suele hacer el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/AeVj4B0QwS
— Fútbol y Política (@FutboliPolitica) July 7, 2026
With their win over the United States, Belgium will take on Spain, the current holders of the European championship (2024), in the quarterfinals in Los Angeles on Friday, July 10 at 3 p.m. EST. The USMNT will be heading home with tons of questions about what happened against Belgium and where the program goes from here, especially if manager Mauricio Pochettino departs.