This article is about the men ‘s team. For the women ‘s team, see India women ‘s national football team
The India national football team represents India in international football and is controlled by the All India Football Federation ( AIFF ). The squad is under the ball-shaped legal power of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC. The AIFF is one of the founding members of the South asian Football Federation ( SAFF ) and the squad is besides a separate of the regional federation.
Reading: India national football team
The team, which was once considered one of the best teams in Asia, had its golden earned run average during the 1950s and early on 1960s. During this period, India won amber at the 1951 and 1962 asian Games, while finishing fourth at the 1956 Summer Olympics. frankincense, India became the foremost asian nation to reach the semi-final of a FIFA organized major tournament. India has never participated in the FIFA World Cup, although they did qualify by default option for the 1950 World Cup after all early nations in their qualification group withdrew. however, India withdrew anterior to the get down of the tournament. The team has besides appeared four times in the AFC Asian Cup, Asia ‘s exceed football backing and finished as runner-up in 1964. India besides participates in the SAFF Championship, the top regional football rival in South Asia. They have won the tournament eight times since it began in 1993 and by doing so became the most successful team in the area .
history
early years ( 1930s–1940s )
indian ( in ashen ) and all European ( in black ) team together before 1 July 1938 Calcutta match. The first gear known official international enlistment of the Indian team which at that time consisted of both Indian and British players was in 1924, when it was led by amerind football player Gostha Paul. [ 13 ] football teams consisting of wholly indian players started to tour Australia, Japan, Indonesia, and Thailand during the late 1930s. The first international match India played before independence is so far to be verified, but the very decipher of it can be found in the match India played overseas against Ceylon in 1933. It was India ‘s second international tour, where Gostha Paul led his side to victory by 1–0 sexual conquest. [ 13 ] [ 15 ] On 4 July 1936 India played against visiting chinese team, which was held at Calcutta. The pit was a draw of 1–1. [ 16 ] [ 13 ]
After the success of several indian football clubs overseas, the All India Football Federation ( AIFF ) was formed in 1937. In the same year, India made a long official enlistment on invitation by Australian Football Association, from August to October where they played 17 matches against many states, districts, club teams and 5 friendly matches against the australian national side besides. [ 17 ] After playing some matches against state and district teams, on 3 September at Sydney, India played the first friendly match against Australia and got defeated by 5–3 and the match is considered as India ‘s beginning FIFA-recognised match. [ 17 ] Second equal was at Brisbane, where the Indians fought back for a reap of 4–4. In the third base match at Newcastle, on 17 September India registered their first win by a margin of 4–1. But the Australians defeated India in the adjacent two matches held at Sydney and Melbourne with a grudge line of 5–4 and 3–1 respectively. At the Sydney match on 24 September, indian striker Lumsden scored the inaugural hat-trick for India against the australian side which includes a penalty kick. [ 18 ] The national team played their first catch as an independent nation in 1948 in the first beat of the 1948 Summer Olympics against France. Using chiefly barefooted players, India were defeated 2–1 in London. [ 19 ]
Golden years ( 1950s–1960s )
In 1950, India managed to qualify for the 1950 FIFA World Cup, which was scheduled to take place in Brazil, after the withdrawal of all opponents in their group during the qualifying round. But former, India deoxyadenosine monophosphate well withdrew from the tournament due to travel costs, lack of rehearse time, and valuing the Olympics more than the World Cup. [ 20 ]
indian team at a melee against Australia at the 1956 Olympics Despite the reason given out by the AIFF, many historians and pundits believe India retreat from the World Cup due to FIFA imposing a convention banning players from playing barefoot. FIFA offered to pay the travel expenses of the indian team hence India withdrawing due to travel costs is faulty. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] however, according to the then captain of India, Sailen Manna, the report of the team not being allowed to play ascribable to wanting to play barefooted was not true [ 25 ] and was just an apologize to cover up the real number reasons the AIFF decided not to travel to Brazil. [ 20 ] Since then, India has not come finale to qualifying for another World Cup. [ 26 ] Despite not participating in the World Cup in 1950, the come years until 1964 are normally considered to be the “ fortunate earned run average ” of amerind football. India, coached by Hyderabad City Police head coach Syed Abdul Rahim, became one of the best teams in Asia. [ 27 ] In March 1951, Rahim led India to their first always gloat during the 1951 asian Games. Hosted in India, the team defeated Iran 1–0 in the gold decoration match to gain their first trophy. [ 28 ] Sahu Mewalal scored the gain goal for India in that match. [ 28 ] The adjacent year India went bet on to the Olympics but were once again defeated in the first polish, this time by Yugoslavia and by a heavy grade of 10–1. [ 29 ] Upon returning to India, the AIFF made it mandate for footballers to wear boots. [ 19 ] After taking the frustration in Finland, India participated in assorted minor tournaments, such as the Colombo Cup, which they won four times from 1952 to 1955. [ 30 ] In 1954, India returned to the asian Games as defending champions in Manila. Despite their accomplishment three years anterior, India was unable to go past the group stage as the team finished second in Group C during the tournament, two points behind Indonesia. [ 31 ] Two years belated, during the 1956 Summer Olympics, India went on to achieve the team ‘s greatest resultant role in a competitive tournament. The team finished in fourth place during the Summer Olympics football tournament, losing the bronze-medal peer to Bulgaria 3–0. [ 32 ] The tournament is besides known for Neville D’Souza ‘s hat-trick against Australia in the quarterfinals. D’Souza ‘s hat-trick was the first scored by an asian in Olympic history. [ 32 ]
After their good performance during the Summer Olympics, India participated in the 1958 asian Games in Tokyo. The team once again finished fourth, losing the bronze-medal equal to Indonesia 4–1. [ 33 ] The future class the team traveled to Malaysia where they took region in the Merdeka Cup and finished as the tournament runner-up. [ 34 ] India began the 1960s with the 1960 AFC asian Cup qualifiers. Despite the qualifiers for the West Zone being held in Kochi, India finished end in their qualification group and frankincense missed out the tournament. [ 35 ] Despite the set-back, India went on to win the gold decoration during the asian Games for the second prison term in 1962. The team defeated South Korea 2–1 to win their moment major championship. [ 36 ] Two years late, following their asian Games prevail, India participated in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup after all the other teams in their qualification group withdrew. Despite their automatic entry into the continental tournament, India managed to finish as the runner-up during the tournament, losing out to the hosts, Israel, by two points. This remains India ‘s best performance in the AFC asian Cup. [ 37 ]
Decline ( 1970s–2000 )
India returned to the asian Games in 1966. Despite their performance two years anterior during the AFC Asian Cup, India could not go beyond the group stagecoach as the team finished third, behind Japan and Iran. [ 38 ] Four years late, during the 1970 asian Games, India came back and took third base place during the tournament. The team defeated Japan 1–0 during the bronze-medal match. [ 39 ] In 1974, India ‘s performance in the asian Games once again precipitously declined as they finished the 1974 edition in last place in their group, losing all three matches, scoring two, and conceding 14 goals in the first round. [ 40 ] India then showed steadily improvement during the 1978 tournament, finishing moment in their group of three. The team were then knocked-out in the following orotund, finishing last in their group with three defeats from three matches. [ 41 ] The 1982 tournament proved to be better for India as the side managed to qualify for the quarter-finals before losing to Saudi Arabia 1–0. [ 42 ] In 1984, India managed to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for the first gear clock time since their irregular place triumph in 1964. During the 1984 tournament, India finished in final station in their five team group in the first polish. [ 43 ] India ‘s only non-defeat during the tournament came against Iran, a 0–0 draw. [ 43 ] Despite India ‘s decline from a major football power in Asia, the team inactive managed to assert its dominance as the top team in South Asia. India managed to win the football rival of the South asian Games in 1985 and then again won the gold decoration in 1987. [ 44 ] The team then began the 1990s by winning the inaugural address SAFF Championship in 1993. [ 45 ] The team ended the twentieth hundred by winning the SAFF Championship again in 1997 and 1999. [ 45 ]
Resurgence ( 2001–2011 )
India ‘s first gear competitive matches of the twenty-first hundred were the 2002 FIFA World Cup first round qualifiers. India took a very bright originate, defeating the United Arab Emirates 1–0, drawing Yemen 1–1, american samoa well as two victories over Brunei, including a 5–0 victory in Bangalore. however, they finished a point off from reservation for the future round. [ 46 ] In 2003, India took separate in the 2003 SAFF Championship. The team qualified for the semi-finals but fell to Bangladesh 2–1. [ 47 ] later in 2003, India participated in the afro-asian Games being held in Hyderabad. Under the coaching of Stephen Constantine, India managed to make it to the concluding of the tournament after defeating Zimbabwe, a team ranked 85 places above India in the FIFA rankings at the time, 5–3. [ 48 ] Despite the major victory, during the gold-medal match India were defeated 1–0 by Uzbekistan. [ 49 ] Because of this accomplishment, Constantine was voted as the Asian Football Confederation ‘s Manager of the Month for October 2003. The tournament result besides gave India more recognition around the state and around the earth. [ 48 ] Constantine was replaced by Syed Nayeemuddin in 2005 but the amerind head coach only lasted for a little over a year as India suffered many heavy defeats during the 2007 AFC asian Cup qualifiers. [ 50 ] During this fourth dimension India were defeated 6–0 by Japan, 3–0 by Saudi Arabia and Yemen respectively at home, and 7–1 away in Jeddah. [ 51 ] Former Malmö and China coach Bob Houghton was brought in as head coach in May 2006. [ 52 ]
Under Houghton, India witnessed massive improvement in their football standing. In August 2007, Houghton won the nation the restarted Nehru Cup after India defeated Syria 1–0 in the concluding. [ 53 ] Pappachen Pradeep scored the winning goal for India that match. The following year, Houghton led India during the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, which was hosted in Hyderabad and Delhi. During the tournament, India breezed through the group degree before defeating Myanmar in the semi-finals. In the final against Tajikistan, India, through a Sunil Chhetri hat-trick, won the match 4–1. The victory not only earned India the backing but it besides allowed India to qualify for the 2011 AFC asian Cup, the nation ‘s first asian Cup appearance in 27 years. [ 54 ] In ordain to prepare for the asian Cup, Houghton had the team stay together as a police squad for eight months from June 2010 till the starting signal of the tournament, meaning the players would not play for their clubs. [ 55 ] India were drawn into Group C for the asian Cup with Australia, South Korea, and Bahrain. [ 56 ] flush though they stayed together as a team for eight months, India lost all three of their matches during the asian Cup, including a 4–0 frustration to Australia. [ 57 ] Despite the results, India were praised by fans and pundits for their valiant efforts during the tournament. [ 57 ]
2011–present
After participating the 2011 AFC asian Cup, India ‘s campaign to qualify for the 2015 asian Cup began in February 2011 with the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers. Bob Houghton decided to change the makeup of the India team, replacing many of the older players from the asian Cup with some young players from the AIFF growth side in the I-League, indian Arrows. [ 58 ] even with a young side, India managed to qualify for the AFC Challenge Cup. [ 59 ] Despite qualifying for the AFC Challenge Cup, the AIFF decided to terminate the contract of Bob Houghton as he was charged with racial abuse towards referee [ 60 ] [ 61 ] which ultimately resulted him resigning as the steer coach of India. [ 62 ] [ 63 ] After having Dempo coach Armando Colaco as interim head coach, the AIFF signed Savio Medeira as head coach in October 2011. [ 64 ] Medeira led India to another SAFF Championship victory, but besides to their worst performance in the AFC Challenge Cup in March 2012. The team lost all three of their group matches, unable to score a single goal during the tournament. [ 65 ] After the tournament, Medeira was replaced as lead coach by Dutchman, Wim Koevermans. [ 66 ] Koevermans ‘ first job as headway bus was the 2012 Nehru Cup. India won their one-third consecutive Nehru Cup, defeating Cameroon on penalties. [ 67 ] [ 68 ] In March 2013, India failed to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup and therefore besides failed to qualify for the 2015 AFC asian Cup. [ 69 ] The team besides failed to retain the SAFF Championship, losing 2–0 to Afghanistan in the 2013 final. [ 70 ] After more bad results in friendlies, Koevermans resigned as head coach in October 2014. [ 71 ] By March 2015, after not playing any matches, India reached their lowest FIFA ranking place of 173. [ 72 ] A couple months anterior, Stephen Constantine was re-hired as the headway coach after inaugural leading India more than a decade before. [ 73 ] Constantine ‘s first major assignment back as the India head coach were the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. After making it through the first round of qualifiers, India crashed out during the moment round of golf, losing seven of their eight matches and therefore, once again, failed to qualify for the World Cup. [ 74 ]
Despite failure to qualify for the World Cup, India managed to reach the third cycle of 2019 AFC asian Cup qualifiers after defeating Laos in the play-off rung on aggregate 7–1. [ 75 ] On 11 October 2017, India secured qualification for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup after a 4–1 victory over Macau. [ 76 ] Though defeated at 2018 SAFF Championship final by 1–2 to Maldives in September 2018, [ 77 ] India regained the momentum with some friendlies against China, Jordan and Oman as they began the 2019 AFC asian Cup with a 4–1 victory against Thailand ; this was their biggest ever win at the Asia Cup, and their first in 55 years. [ 78 ] [ 79 ] Nevertheless, they lost both of their following two group matches against UAE and Bahrain by 0−2 and 0−1 respectively [ 80 ] [ 81 ] and finished at the bed of the group, frankincense failed to move to knock out stage. [ 82 ] Stephen Constantine immediately resigned from his position as heading coach following the failure to progress further in the tournament. [ 83 ] On 15 May 2019, the AIFF announced former Croatian player and coach Igor Štimac as the team ‘s head coach after the departure of Stephen Constantine. [ 84 ] His first major assignment with India was 2022 World Cup reservation, where it began with a 1–2 home loss to Oman. [ 85 ] But in the second match they earned a respectable point after managing a scoreless pull against the 2019 asian Champion and 2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar. [ 86 ] however, in the third match, the home leg against Bangladesh saw them managing a disappointing 1−1 pull. [ 87 ] A similar result was repeated in the away stage against Afghanistan. [ 88 ] In the away leg, India lost even again to Oman by a hermit finish, frankincense shortening their hopes to qualify for the next circle. [ 89 ] After several postponements due to COVID-19, the team finally flew to Doha to play their remainder of games. In the return leg against Qatar, India went down to the hosts with a unmarried finish and got knocked out of the global cup qualification controversy with two games to spare. The team then made a rejoinder by winning their following match against Bangladesh with 2–0, and ended their campaign with a 1–1 draw against Afghanistan. With seven points in total, India finished third base on the board behind Qatar and Oman, thus getting eliminated from the universe cup during the second orotund. however they were qualified into the third base rung of 2023 AFC asian Cup qualification. [ 90 ]
team effigy
Nicknames
India is formally known by the nickname ‘Blue Tigers’ since 2013. It is adopted from the color Blue which forms the major tinge of India ‘s family kit ( exchangeable to the indian national teams of early sports ) and the Tiger which is the national animal of India. [ 91 ] [ 92 ] prior to being nicknamed as Blue Tigers, the team was known as ‘Bhangra Boys ‘. The honest-to-god nickname came about during the friendly peer between India and West Bromwich Albion on July 26, 2000. [ 93 ] The push consisting by and large of indian or amerind origin fans created a great air with drums and dhols to cheer India until the final scoreline of 0–0. That night the terminus the ‘Bhangra Boys’ was born and over those three tours it became India ‘s dub with which the fans could identify. specially in 2002 when India took on Jamaica in a go which was named the Reggae Boyz vs the Bhangra Boys in the JamIn Tour. [ 93 ]
Kit and colours
India national team jerseys with different shades of blue used in different occasions. The success of the India cricket team and discipline field hockey teams in blue jerseys made the color more outstanding. The football team, however, has used some sort of shade of blue for decades. [ 94 ] At the turn of the twenty-first hundred, India wore a flip blue shirt with black shorts and sky blue socks as their kit. [ 94 ] In 2002, the All India Football Federation signed a hand with german manufacturer Adidas to produce the India kit out. [ 95 ] The first kit made by Adidas was all-white. [ 95 ] After four years with Adidas, the AIFF signed an agreement for seven years with american company Nike on 27 February 2006. [ 96 ] Nike ‘s first kits for India were in black blue while the away kit was changed from white to orange. [ 97 ] India in 2007, wearing their traditional blue jersey. For the 2011 AFC asian Cup, in which India were participating, Nike designed India ‘s kit using the lapp template it used for other national teams such as Brazil. [ 98 ] In January 2013. it was announced that the AIFF ‘s softwood with Nike was extended for an extra five years. [ 99 ] In September 2017, prior to the India U17 side ‘s engagement in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Nike unveiled an all sky blue kit for the India senior and youth teams. [ 100 ] A year late, on 17 December 2018, it was announced that amerind manufacturer SIX5SIX would replace Nike as India ‘s kit out godhead. [ 101 ] In becoming India ‘s newfangled kit makers, Six5Six besides became the first manufacturer to pay for the rights to produce India kits, after both Nike and Adidas did n’t pay. [ 101 ] Six5Six unveiled their first new jersey for the team before the 2019 AFC asian Cup, [ 102 ] from which the home color had a similar sky gloomy tad and the away color was changed to egg white from orange. Both jerseys had a alone purpose embellished on the sleeves representing tiger stripes to pay court to the indian football fans, who dearly calls the team “ blue Tigers ”. [ 103 ]
home plate stadiums
numerous venues around India have hosted home matches for the national team. There is no specific home ground for the India national team. India matches have been played at stadiums such as the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi, the Mumbai Football Arena in Mumbai, the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati and the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad. [ 104 ] [ 105 ] [ 106 ] [ 107 ] [ 108 ] In holocene times, competitions like 2011 SAFF Championship and 2012 Nehru Cup were held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, the 2015 SAFF Championship at Trivandrum International Stadium, 2017 Hero Tri-Nation Series & 2018 intercontinental Cup at Mumbai Football Arena and 2019 Intercontinental Cup at the EKA Arena. Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Sree Kanteerava Stadium and Fatorda stadium have seen AFC asian Cup and FIFA World Cup qualifiers. [ 109 ] [ 110 ] [ 111 ] [ 112 ] [ 113 ] [ 114 ] [ 115 ]
Supporters
Blue Pilgrims, 2018, displaying tri-colour and their banners Till the twenty-first hundred, the indian football fans were largely scattered, being widely based in West Bengal, North-East India, Goa and Kerala. [ 116 ] [ 117 ] [ 118 ] [ 119 ] [ 120 ] other than matches in asian Games, Nehru Cup or SAFF Championship, [ 121 ] [ 122 ] [ 123 ] the crowd showed up in little numbers when the team played as the fans were not organised under any one banner as happens in Europe or South America. Fans of different clubs used to support the team in their respective local venues but were not grouped together to support a single campaign, that of the national team, until 2017 when “Blue Pilgrims” was established as the first organize fan club for the national team. [ 124 ] [ 125 ] [ 126 ] [ 127 ] The Blue Pilgrims formed with a motivative to support the national team and the U-17 team during the historic 2017 U17 World Cup, [ 128 ] India ‘s first ever FIFA contest participation. Started with 300 odd fans, [ 129 ] [ 128 ] nowadays they are in thousands as a fusion of fans from different regions with unlike allegiances came together for just one cause, the Blue Tigers. [ 124 ] [ 125 ] They call themselves the devotees of the Blue Tigers, [ 125 ] [ 126 ] and their motto is to support India national football teams of all sex and long time, wherever they play [ 124 ] [ 125 ] and for such dedication they are called as the 12th serviceman of the team. [ 129 ] [ 128 ]
The 3D Blue Tiger tifo displayed by Blue Pilgrims in June 2018 The Blue Pilgrims ‘s most park chants are : “Oh India!”, “In Unity we stand”, “Oh India we stand for you!”, “Vande Mataram”. [ 130 ] [ 131 ] Their sports anthems are “Oh when the blues go marching in, I wanna be in that number!” and “Hum honge kaamyab” ( We shall overcome ). [ 129 ] Since its formation, the Blue Pilgrims use to celebrate after every meet with Viking clap with the home team members. [ 132 ] [ 133 ] Fans of the India home team display the state ‘s tricolor National flag and besides tire blasphemous jerseys in solidarity with the team. They used to display their streamer Blue Pilgrims along with “Inquilab-e-Indian football” ( Revolution of Indian football ) [ 124 ] [ 125 ] [ 134 ] and frequently shout their common motto, We love you, wherever you go, we follow!”. [ 130 ] On 2 June 2018, the then captain Sunil Chhetri posted a video on social media. In his video recording he urged the fans to come out at Mumbai to support the team after a inadequate herd appearance of only 2569 at a match against chinese Taipei in the 2018 Intercontinental Cup. India achieved a massive victory in that match, winning by 5−0 with Chhetri scoring a hat-trick, but there were very few people present to celebrate. [ 135 ] [ 136 ] Responding to the captain ‘s call, the Blue Pilgrims and football supporters including the fan clubs like Manjappada, West Block Blues and East Bengal Ultras made certain that the stadiums were wide during the next few matches. [ 136 ] [ 137 ] In the concluding of that tournament, the Blue Pilgrims displayed a 30 foot ( 9.1 thousand ) grandiloquent 3D tifo of a Blue Tiger, the first ever in the team ‘s history. [ 132 ] [ 138 ] [ 139 ]
Media coverage
India ‘s competitive international games are covered on television receiver by Star Sports and on its OTT service, Hotstar. [ 140 ] Prior to this deal, the AIFF had struck a ten-year batch with Zee Sports in 2006 to broadcast indian national team ‘s games on its impart with the inaugural of ‘Goal 2010’ . The purpose of this whole drill was to help India qualify for the 2010 World Cup. [ 141 ]
Results and fixtures
Matches
The surveil is a number of match results in the last 12 months, american samoa good as any future matches that have been scheduled.
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2021
Coaching staff
current personnel
On 15 May 2019, Igor Štimac was announced as the headway bus of the home team. [ 1 ] Joining him as the other technical foul staffs were his colleague Croats Luka Radman [ 142 ] and Tomislav Rogić [ 143 ] as Fitness and Goalkeeping bus respectively. The adjunct coach Shanmugam Venkatesh continued as the adjunct coach after his appointment back in February 2015. [ 144 ] The AIFF ‘s technical committee conducted a virtual confluence on 29 May 2021, where they decided to bridge player over an annex to the lead bus Igor Štimac ‘s tenure for three more months. The committee besides decided not to extend the technical director, Doru Isac ‘s contract and appointed Savio Medeira as the interim technical director. On 20 June 2021, the technical committee decided to hand over a annual propagation to Igor Štimac which will last till September 2022 in accord to the 3rd Round of Asian Cup Qualifiers starting from Feb. [ 145 ] [ 146 ]
past head coaches
Since India ‘s independence, there have been twenty-nine different head coaches for the national team, out of which eleven foreign. The most successful point passenger car for India was Syed Abdul Rahim, who led India to gold in both the 1951 and 1962 asian Games while besides achieving a fourth-place polish during the 1956 Summer Olympics. The most successful foreign point coaches for India were Bob Houghton and Stephen Constantine ; both of them helped the team to qualify for AFC Asian Cup. With Houghton in blame from 2006 to 2011, [ 148 ] India won the Nehru Cup doubly and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 which allowed India to participate in their first base AFC Asian Cup for 27 years. [ 148 ] Since Houghton resigned as India team Head bus in 2011, the indian national team ‘s FIFA rate touched its lowest at 173 in the team history in March 2015, [ 149 ] [ 150 ] but Constantine, who was appointed for the second time as the fountainhead coach of India, [ 151 ] [ 152 ] revived the indian team from its meager condition. Under him, the team remained unbeaten for two years from June 2016 to March 2018 winning 11 matches and drawn 2 matches, [ 153 ] [ 154 ] which helped them to qualify for 2019 AFC Asian Cup after 8 years since Houghton left. [ 155 ] He besides helped the team to reach a better FIFA rank of 96 in July 2017, which was the best in survive 21 years. [ 149 ] [ 150 ]
Stephen Constantine, one of the most successful foreign coaches for the national team (2015-2019)
Players
stream team
The follow 23 players were named in the final examination police squad for the 2021 SAFF Championship. [ 213 ]
holocene callups
The following players have been called up to India within the last twelve months .
luminary players
During the early twentieth hundred, India produced one of the best footballers from Asia at that time, Gostha Pal. Pal began playing professional football at the old age of 16 in 1911, becoming India ‘s foremost captain, and was considered one of the best defenders India had always produced. He was besides the first football player to be awarded Padma Shree in the year 1962, and in 1998, the Government of India introduced a postal stamp in his award. [ 15 ] In the by and by 1930s, players like R. Lumsden, Noor Mohammed, T. Rahim, K. Prosad, A. Nandi under the leadership of Karuna Bhattacharya played for India who scored a total of 56 goals in 17 matches during the 1938 Australia tour out of which 5 matches were against Australia, where Lumsden scored the first international hat-trick for India. [ 215 ] [ 18 ]
India ‘s first captain after the state gained independence was Talimeren Ao. At a very unseasoned age, using footballs made out of rags, Ao gradually improved his skills as a defensive midfielder. He was given the province of leading the team at the 1948 Olympics, India ‘s first base major tournament [ 216 ] [ 217 ] and besides was the flag pallbearer of indian contingents in London. [ 218 ] besides during this era, India produced Sailen Manna, one of the nation ‘s best defenders. [ 219 ] He was given the India captainship in 1951 during the asian Games, led the team to the gold decoration, India ‘s first major internationally honour, [ 219 ] and besides captained the team during the 1952 Olympics and 1954 asian Games. [ 219 ] In 1953, England Football Association rated Manna among “ 10 Best Skippers of the World ” in its yearbook, [ 220 ] the Government of India awarded him Padma Shri in 1971 and AIFF honoured him as “ AIFF Player-of-the-Millennium ” in 2000. [ 219 ] During India ‘s golden era between the 1950s and early 60s, the state produced covet strikers such as Sheoo Mewalal, Neville D’Souza, Chuni Goswami and Tulsidas Balaram. Mewalal was India ‘s starting striker during the 1948 Olympics, 1952 Olympics and 1951 asian games where he ended as the tournament peak goalscorer with four goals. [ 221 ] [ 222 ] Mewalal was the first gear indian player to score a hat-trick since the area gained independence when he scored it against Burma during the 1952 Colombo Cup. [ 223 ] D’Souza meanwhile became the inaugural Asian musician to score a hat-trick at the Olympic Games, [ 224 ] scoring a hat-trick against Australia during the 1956 Olympics. [ 225 ] D’Souza besides tied for top goalscorer in that edition of the Olympics, which helped India reach the semi-finals. [ 226 ] Goswami represented India at the 1958 asian Games and the 1960 Olympics, and captained the side during the 1962 asian Games and the 1964 asian Cup. [ 227 ] He was bestowed with Padma Shri by the Government of India and AFC honoured him as “ Best Striker of Asia ” in 1962. [ 228 ] P. K. Banerjee, a winger who represented India at the 1956 Olympics and belated captained the side during the 1960 Olympics, was named as the best “ indian musician of the twentieth hundred ”. [ 229 ] Peter Thangaraj was the starting goalkeeper for India during the late stage of India ‘s golden era, being named as best “ indian custodian of the twentieth hundred ” by IFFHS. [ 229 ] P. K. Banerjee was honoured with Padma Shri by Government of India in 1990, and in 2004 FIFA bestowed him with “ FIFA Centennial Order of Merit “ Award, the highest honor awarded by FIFA. [ 230 ] [ 231 ] From the 1970s to the 2000s, India saw a refuse in their results. Despite the miss of tournament victories, the state managed to produce players like Syed Nayeemuddin who led India to bronze at the 1970 asian Games. [ 232 ] During the 1990s, I. M. Vijayan, India ‘s best musician at the meter, was capped 66 times for India while scoring 29 goals and captaining the team respective times. [ 233 ]
In 1995, Bhaichung Bhutia debuted for India. With Bhutia, India qualified for the AFC Asian Cup after a drought of 27 years. [ 234 ] He was the captain of the team for over ten years. [ 235 ] [ 236 ] [ 237 ] Considered one of the greatest footballers of India, he is the second-most-capped player of India with 82 caps and scored 27 times for India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008 and IFFHS listed him among the fabled players of football in 2016. [ 238 ] Under Bhutia ‘s captainship Sunil Chhetri debuted for India who is now the merely football player in India ‘s history to have played 100 external matches and is the all-time highest goal-scorer of India. [ 239 ] [ 240 ] Chhetri led the national team to many victories, most importantly qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup and under his leadership the team achieved its highest FIFA rate of 96 after twenty-one years. [ 149 ] [ 150 ] His goal-scoring ability and skills made him the merely indian striker to score three hat-tricks for India. [ 241 ] [ 242 ] [ 243 ]
competitive record
FIFA World Cup
India has never played in the finals of a FIFA World Cup. [ 244 ] After gaining independence in 1947, India managed to qualify for the World Cup held in 1950. This was due to Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines withdrawing from qualification. [ 244 ] however, anterior to the start of the tournament, India themselves withdrew due to the expenses required in getting the team to Brazil. [ 244 ] other reasons cited for why India withdrew include FIFA not allowing indian players to play in the tournament barefooted and the All India Football Federation not considering the World Cup an significant tournament compared to the Olympics. [ 244 ] After withdrawing from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, India did not enter the qualifying rounds of the tournament between 1954 and 1982. [ 245 ] Since the 1986 qualifiers, with the exception of the 1990 version of the tournament, the team participated in World Cup qualification, but has even to qualify for the finals again. [ 245 ]
AFC asian Cup
India has qualified for the AFC Asian Cup four times. The team played their first asian Cup in 1964. The team managed to qualify following other nations ‘ refusal to play against India due to political reasons. [ 246 ] [ 247 ] India managed to finish the tournament as runner-up to hosts Israel, with Inder Singh finish as joint top-scorer. [ 247 ] Since then India has failed to progress beyond the first attack of the asian Cup with their participation at the 1984 [ 248 ] and 2011 asian Cups, [ 249 ] and most recently the 2019 asian Cup. [ 82 ]
summer Olympics
India competed in four uncoiled Olympic football tournaments between 1948 and 1960. Their sole 1948 Olympics match against France was besides India ‘s first ever external match since the state gained independence in 1947. [ 19 ] During the catch, a majority of the indian side played barefoot. [ 19 ] The equal ended in a 2–1 kill, with Sarangapani Raman scoring the alone finish for India. [ 19 ] India then returned to the Olympics four years former where they took on Yugoslavia in the preliminary rounds. The team suffered a 10–1 get the better of, India ‘s largest allowance of kill, and were knocked out. [ 250 ] Four years belated, during the 1956 Olympics, India managed to reach the semi-finals and coating fourth. After India ‘s first round opponents, Hungary, withdrew from the tournament, the team played against hosts Australia in the quarter-finals. A Neville D’Souza hat-trick, the first gear by an asian football player in the Olympics, helped India win 4–2. [ 251 ] however, in the semi-finals, India once again suffer frustration against Yugoslavia, going down 4–1. In the bronze decoration catch, India were defeated 3–0 by Bulgaria. [ 251 ] In 1960, India competed in Group D with Hungary, France and Peru. India ended the group in last place, drawing once. [ 252 ] India have since failed to qualify for another Olympic games .
Summer Olympics record
Summer Olympics qualification record
Host/Year
Result
Position
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
1908–1936
Did not enter
Did not enter
1948
Round 1
11th
1
0
0
1
1
2
Squad
Qualified automatically[b]
1952
Preliminaries
25th
1
0
0
1
1
10
Squad
1956
Semi-finals
4th
3
1
0
2
5
9
Squad
Bye[c]
1960
Round 1
13th
3
0
1
2
3
6
Squad
4
4
0
0
13
4
1964–1988
Did not qualify
20
6
1
13
34
38
Total
Semi-finals
4 / 17
8
1
1
6
10
27
24[d]
10
1
13
47
42
asian Games
India competed in football team asian Games starting from 1951 to 1998 except the 1990 and 1994 editions. [ 253 ] In 1951 Asiad India won their foremost equal against Indonesia in the inaugural round and then defeated Japan in semi-final and went on to win against Iran in the final in front of the base crowd. The accomplishment of the amerind team was a special one as they became the first ever asian Games amber medalists and besides the foremost ever asian football champions. [ 254 ] Though the future two tournaments proved less successful for the team, but they bounced back by winning the gold at the 1962 asian games by defeating the asian Cup winners South Korea in the final examination to win their second continental title. The team failed to defend their title in 1966 and went on to claim the bronze decoration in 1970. [ 255 ] This was the last time India always finished on the decoration dais, the next years proved to be hard for the amerind team to regain their dominance as the side went through a crisp decline. [ 256 ] After two disappointing editions in 1974 and 1978, India performed much better in the 1982 Asiad, which they hosted for the second clock by reaching the quarter-finals but lost to Saudi Arabia. Due to the Poor operation in 1986 asian Games the authorities decided not to send the team for the approaching games. [ 257 ] The team made their return in 1998 .
Asian Games record
Host/Year
Result
Position
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
1951
Champions
1st
3
3
0
0
7
0
Squad
1954
Round 1
8th
2
1
0
1
3
6
Squad
1958
Semi-finals
4th
5
2
0
3
12
13
Squad
1962
Champions
1st
5
4
0
1
11
6
Squad
1966
Round 1
8th
3
1
0
2
4
7
Squad
1970
Third Place
3rd
6
3
1
2
8
5
Squad
1974
Round 1
13th
3
0
0
3
2
14
Squad
1978
Round 2
8th
5
1
0
4
5
13
Squad
1982
Quarter-final
6th
4
2
1
1
5
3
Squad
1986
Round 1
16th
3
0
0
3
1
8
Squad
1990
Did not enter
1994
Did not enter
1998
Round 2
16th
5
1
0
4
3
8
Squad
Total
2 Titles
11 / 13
44
18
2
24
61
83
SAFF Championship
India has played in all thirteen editions of the SAFF Championship and has been the most successful team in the competition winning an overall eight titles. [ 258 ] The team played in knockout stage of every tournament except in 1993 where the tournament was in a league format. [ 259 ] The team besides boasts a prestigious record of claiming decoration at every championships played sol far. [ 260 ] India has played in the final of every championship except the 2003 tournament where they claimed bronze decoration for the beginning time. [ 261 ] India besides boasts several records such as the team has scored the most goals, conceded least numbers of goals, registered most wins, fewest draw and fewest defeats than any early team in the contest ‘s history. [ 262 ]
SAFF Championship record
Year
Result
Position
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
1993
Champions
1st
3
2
1
0
4
1
N/A
1995
Runners-up
2nd
3
0
2
1
2
3
N/A
1997
Champions
1st
4
3
1
0
12
3
N/A
1999
Champions
1st
4
3
1
0
6
1
Squad
2003
Semi-finals
3rd
5
2
1
2
8
5
Squad
2005
Champions
1st
5
4
1
0
9
2
Squad
2008
Runners-up
2nd
5
4
0
1
9
3
Squad
2009[e]
Champions
1st
5
3
1
1
3
2
Squad
2011
Champions
1st
5
4
1
0
16
2
Squad
2013
Runners-up
2nd
5
2
1
2
4
5
Squad
2015
Champions
1st
4
4
0
0
11
4
Squad
2018
Runners-up
2nd
4
3
0
1
8
3
Squad
2021
Champions
1st
5
3
2
0
8
2
Squad
Total
8 Titles
13/13
57
37
12
8
100
36
AFC Challenge Cup
India has participated in AFC Challenge Cup four times [ 263 ] .The tournament was primitively created for countries categorized as emerging association, though India was invited to take part by AFC along with other developing association countries such as North Korea and Bangladesh. [ 264 ] The team won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup and qualified to the asian Cup after 27 years. [ 265 ] [ 266 ]
AFC Challenge Cup record
AFC Challenge Cup Qualification record
Host/Year
Result
Position
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
2006[f]
Quarter-final
8th
4
1
2
1
3
4
Squad
Qualified automatically[g]
2008
Champions
1st
5
4
1
0
9
3
Squad
Qualified as hosts
2010[h]
Group Stage
8th
3
0
0
3
1
6
Squad
Qualified automatically[i]
2012
Group stage
8th
3
0
0
3
0
8
Squad
3
2
1
0
7
2
2014
Did not qualify
3
2
0
1
6
2
Totals
1 Title
4/5
15
5
3
7
13
21
6
4
1
1
13
4
Notes:
- ^ Iran and Pakistan decided not to play against India in qualifiers due to political reasons. So India was awarded a bye into the finals by AFC
- ^ India was invited to take separate in the event .
- ^ India and Thailand were given a bye into the Olympic finals .
- ^ All the matches played in Olympic qualification rounds are not considered as full A internationals by FIFA
- ^ India was represented by India U-23 team, then match involving India are not considered as wax A internationals by FIFA
- ^ India was represented by India U-20 team, then match involving India are not considered as full A internationals by FIFA
- ^ India was invited by AFC
- ^ India was represented by India U-23 team, indeed catch involving India are not considered as full A internationals by FIFA
- ^ India was invited by AFC
See besides
References
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