Eden Hazard, Jan Vertoghen, Vincent Kompany, Christian Benteke, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini, Toby Alderweireld, Simon Mignolet, Thibaut Courtois, Kevin Mirallas, Thomas Vermaelen, Axel Witsel, Moussa Dembele, Steven Defour and Kevin De Bruyne.

That is one hell of an ensemble cast that Belgium have produced in the past few years and that's not mentioning Radja Nainngolan, Zakaria Bakkali who Raf Diallo looked at last month nor Monaco's Yannick Ferreira Carrasco who is the subject of this Sunday's Scouting Report.

Belgium have one foot in Brazil 2014 already and the list of players at former star and current manager Marc Wilmot's disposal is nothing short of exemplary. They are certainly dark horses for the World Cup.

But how has a relatively small country like Belgium produced such a plethora of talent in such a short space of time? Is it by accident or design?

Certainly one must admit that some of those stars spent time at academies in the Netherlands, France and Italy as was discussed on Euro Footy Focus in March.

But that only accounts for five players with Belgian clubs also heavily responsible for producing the Golden Generation.

It is a question that was pondered on the Off The Ball Football Show last night. Ger, Joe and Dan McDonnell spoke to Irish football agent Eamon McLoughlin who has many clients in Belgian football and knows the country's football scene well.

He cites Belgiums failure on home soil at Euro 2000 as a key moment for the Red Devils.

"There's a golden generation coming through in Belgium but it's by design rather than circumstance. All this started in Belgium on the back of the country hosting Euro 2000 where there was a poor showing from the national team. They decided that they needed to address it, starting with youth players and kids that were 10 years old. They said that they would not reap the rewards for 10 years but would put the right structures in place. Everybody can see the players that have been produced."

Ireland's U16s beat their Belgian counterparts recently but McLoughlin says this is not an indicator of strength. Indeed Belgium - like most progressive footballing nations - puts no store in results and focuses on developing players.

McLoughlin also detailed how private football academies have played a role in development, the government's tax back scheme for clubs who pour money into their youth system, and what Irish football is capable of replicating in that regard.

Listen to the interview below or download the Football Show podcast on iTunes: