The India national football team represents India in international football and is controlled by the All India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC, the team is also part of the South Asian Football Federation. The team, which was once considered one of the best teams in Asia, had its golden era during the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, under the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim, India won gold during the 1951 and 1962Asian Games, won silver medal in 1964 AFC Asia Cup as runners up, while finishing fourth during the 1956 Summer Olympics.
India has never participated in the FIFA World Cup, although the team did qualify by default for the 1950 World Cup after all the other nations in their qualification group withdrew. However India withdrew prior to the beginning of the tournament.
India has never participated in a FIFA World Cup.[1] 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.[1] However, prior to the start of the tournament, India themselves withdrew due to the expenses required in getting the team to Brazil.[1] Other reasons cited for why India withdrew include FIFA not allowing Indian players to play in the tournament barefoot and the All India Football Federation not considering the World Cup an important tournament compared to the Olympics.[1]
After withdrawing from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, India didn't enter the qualifying rounds of the tournament between 1954 and 1982.[2] Since the 1986 qualifiers, with the exception of the 1990 edition of the tournament, the team started to participate in qualifiers but have yet to qualify for the tournament again.[2]
India has never played in finals of a FIFA World Cup.[1] The closest they came to qualify was back in 2002 when they were a point away from progressing in to the final round.
The results only include matches considered as FIFA A matches (including Olympic finals and Qualifier matches). Other matches played against Club teams, Underage sides or B sides are not included here. Updated as of 12 November 2024 (vs Malaysia).[21][22][23][l]
^From 2014 onwards the first and second round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers are also considered part of Asian Cup qualifiers.
^The matches against Japan U-20 is not considered as full-A international by some sources[1]. But it is considered by some other sources.[2]
^India actually played with U-20 team in 2006 and U-23 team in 2010, so the matches involving them are not considered as full-A internationals & are not included here.
^The two matches against Bhutan is not considered as full-A international as they were not a FIFA member until 2000.
^ Although there is some conjecture regarding the status of several games (especially pre-1992 matches), the table includes all fixtures recognised by FIFA as "A" internationals and as such is used to recognise caps, goal scorers, captaincy records, etc. Several other sources may differ from the table given below. This following table is based on RSSSF and FIFA sources.[24][25]
^A match against South Korea which India won 1-0 in 1977 is considered as an international A match for India by some sources.[3][4]
