User:ArsenalFan700/India national football team

India
Association	All India Football Federation
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Stephen Constantine
Most caps	Baichung Bhutia (91)
Top scorer	Sunil Chhetri (50)
FIFA code	IND
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	162 (5 May 2016)
Highest	94 (February 1996)
Lowest	171 (September 2014)
First international
	Pre-independence:; Australia 5–3 India ; (Sydney, Australia; 3 September 1938); Post-independence:; India 1–2 France ; (London, England; 31 July 1948)
Biggest win
	Australia 1–7 India ; (Sydney, Australia; 12 December 1956); India 6–0 Cambodia; (New Delhi, India; 17 August 2007)
Biggest defeat
	Soviet Union 11–1 India ; (Moscow, Soviet Union; 16 September 1955)
Asian Cup
Appearances	3 (first in 1964)
Best result	Runners-up: 1964

The India national football team represents India in international football and has done so since the nation gained independence in 1947. Organized by the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the national team competes in FIFA's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Considered one of the best teams in Asia at one point, India had it's golden era in football during the fifties and early sixties.^[3] During this period, under the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim, India won gold during the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games while finishing fourth during the 1956 Summer Olympics, cementing the nation as one of the best teams in the world at the time.^[3]

The India national team have never participated in the FIFA World Cup and have appeared only three times in the AFC Asian Cup, the top footballing competition in Asia. The national team did qualify for the World Cup in 1950 after all the other nations in Asia's qualification group withdrew.^[4] However, India themselves withdrew from the tournament prior the the tournament beginning.^[4] India also participate in the SAFF Championship, the top regional football competition in South Asia. They have won the tournament six times since the tournament began in 1993.^[5]

Despite the India national team not reaching the same heights since their golden era, the team has seen a resurgence in performance and achievements during the twenty-first century. Other than the SAFF Championship triumphs, India won the re-started Nehru Cup in 2007, 2009, and 2012.^[6] The team also managed to emerge victorious during the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup and thus qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time in 27 years.^[7]

History

Colours

Stadiums

Rivalries

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

India have never participated in a FIFA World Cup.^[4] 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.^[4] However, prior to the start of the tournament, India themselves withdrew due to the expenses required in getting the team to Brazil.^[4] 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.^[4]

After withdrawing from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, India didn't enter the qualifying rounds of the tournament between 1954 and 1982.^[8] 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.^[8]

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter								Did not enter
1934
1938
1950	Qualified but withdrew								None
1954	Denied by FIFA								None
1958	Did not enter								Did not enter
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986	Did not qualify								6	2	3	1	7	6
1990									Withdrew from qualification
1994									8	1	1	6	8	22
1998									3	1	1	1	3	7
2002									6	3	2	1	11	5
2006									6	1	1	4	2	18
2010									2	0	1	1	3	6
2014									2	0	1	1	2	5
2018									10	2	1	7	7	18
Total		0/20	0	0	0	0	0	0	43	10	11	22	43	86

AFC Asian Cup

India have qualified for the AFC Asian Cup three times. The team played their first Asian Cup in 1964. During this tournament India finished as the runners-up, their best major tournament performance yet.^[9] Since then India has failed to progress beyond the first round of the Asian Cup with their most recent participation being the 2011 Asian Cup.

Year	Round	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
1956	Did not enter
1960	Did not qualify
1964	Runners-up	3	2	0	1	5	3
1968	Did not qualify
1972
1976
1980
1984	Round 1	4	0	1	3	0	7
1988	Did not qualify
1992
1996
2000
2004
2007
2011	Round 1	3	0	0	3	3	13
2015	Did not qualify
2019	To be determined
Totals	3/16	10	2	1	7	8	23

Other honours

AFC Challenge Cup
- Winners (1): 2008
SAFF Championship
- Winners (6): 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2015
Nehru Cup
- Winners (3): 2007, 2009, 2012
Asian Games
- Winners (2): 1951, 1962

Recent results and fixtures

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were called up for the pre-season training camp before a tour of the United States.^[10] Caps and goals are correct as of 27 July 2016.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Subrata Pal	(1986-12-24) 24 December 1986 (age 37)	64	0	DSK Shivajians
1GK	Laxmikant Kattimani	(1989-05-03) 3 May 1989 (age 35)	0	0	Dempo
1GK	Rehenesh TP	(1993-02-13) 13 February 1993 (age 31)	0	0	NorthEast United
1GK	Albino Gomes	(1994-02-07) 7 February 1994 (age 30)	0	0	Mumbai City

2DF	Pritam Kotal	(1993-08-09) 9 August 1993 (age 31)	12	0	Atlético de Kolkata
2DF	Sandesh Jhingan	(1993-07-21) 21 July 1993 (age 31)	11	2	Kerala Blasters
2DF	Aiborlang Khongjee	(1987-12-09) 9 December 1987 (age 36)	5	0	Mumbai City
2DF	Gurjinder Kumar	(1990-10-10) 10 October 1990 (age 34)	5	0	Salgaocar
2DF	Fulganco Cardozo	(1988-01-23) 23 January 1988 (age 36)	1	0	Sporting Goa
2DF	Koushik Sarkar	(1993-01-01) 1 January 1993 (age 31)	1	0	East Bengal
2DF	Chinglensana Singh	(1996-11-23) 23 November 1996 (age 28)	0	0	Delhi Dynamos

3MF	Rowllin Borges	(1992-06-05) 5 June 1992 (age 32)	10	1	NorthEast United
3MF	Jackichand Singh	(1992-03-17) 17 March 1992 (age 32)	7	0	Mumbai City
3MF	Pronay Halder	(1993-02-25) 25 February 1993 (age 31)	7	0	Mumbai City
3MF	Dhanpal Ganesh	(1994-06-13) 13 June 1994 (age 30)	5	0	Chennaiyin
3MF	Lallianzuala Chhangte	(1997-08-06) 6 August 1997 (age 27)	3	2	NorthEast United
3MF	David Lalrinmuana	(1992-11-09) 9 November 1992 (age 32)	0	0	Mumbai City
3MF	Germanpreet Singh	(1996-06-24) 24 June 1996 (age 28)	0	0	Dempo
3MF	Issac Vanmalsawma	(1996-09-15) 15 September 1996 (age 28)	0	0	Shillong Lajong
3MF	Vinit Rai	(1997-10-10) 10 October 1997 (age 27)	0	0	Dempo

4FW	Jeje Lalpekhlua	(1991-01-07) 7 January 1991 (age 33)	36	15	Chennaiyin
4FW	Holicharan Narzary	(1994-05-10) 10 May 1994 (age 30)	7	0	NorthEast United
4FW	Sumeet Passi	(1995-04-18) 18 April 1995 (age 29)	2	1	NorthEast United

Recent players

The following players have been selected by India in the past 12 months, but were not selected in the August 2016 squad, or withdrew from that squad due to injury or suspension.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Gurpreet Singh Sandhu	(1992-02-03) 3 February 1992 (age 32)	12	0	Stabæk	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
GK	Amrinder Singh	(1993-05-27) 27 May 1993 (age 31)	0	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016

DF	Arnab Mondal	(1989-09-25) 25 September 1989 (age 35)	24	1	East Bengal	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
DF	Narayan Das	(1993-09-25) 25 September 1993 (age 31)	14	0	East Bengal	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
DF	Rino Anto	(1988-01-03) 3 January 1988 (age 36)	6	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
DF	Keegan Pereira	(1987-11-07) 7 November 1987 (age 37)	1	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016

MF	Eugeneson Lyngdoh	(1986-09-10) 10 September 1986 (age 38)	14	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
MF	Alwyn George	(1992-01-03) 3 January 1992 (age 32)	5	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
MF	Seityasen Singh	(1992-03-12) 12 March 1992 (age 32)	3	0	NorthEast United	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
MF	Udanta Singh	(1996-06-14) 14 June 1996 (age 28)	4	0	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016
MF	Mohammed Rafique	(1992-09-20) 20 September 1992 (age 32)	3	1	East Bengal	v. Laos, 7 June 2016

FW	Sunil Chhetri	(1984-08-03) 3 August 1984 (age 40)	90	50	Bengaluru FC	v. Laos, 7 June 2016

Head coaches

Since independence, there have been eighteen different head coaches for the India national team, with ten of them being foreign coaches. The most successful head coach for India was Syed Abdul Rahim, who lead India to gold in both the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games while also achieving a fourth-place finish during the 1956 Summer Olympics.^[3] The most successful foreign head coach for India was Bob Houghton, who coached the side from 2006 to 2011.^[11] With Houghton in charge, India won the Nehru Cup twice and the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008 which allowed India to participate in their first AFC Asian Cup for 27 years.^[11]

List of head coaches of India
Balaidas Chatterjee (1948) Syed Abdul Rahim (1950–1963) Harry Wright (1963–1964) Various (1964–1972)^{[note 1]} Pradip Banerjee (1972–1981) Bob Bootland (1982) Joe Kinnear (1983) Milovan Ćirić (1984–1985) Pradip Banerjee (1985) Syed Nayeemuddin (1986) Amal Dutta (1987–1988) József Gelei (1989–1991) Jiří Pešek (1993–1994) Rustam Akramov (1995–1997) Syed Nayeemuddin (1997–1998) Sukhwinder Singh (1998–2001) Stephen Constantine (2002–2005) Sukhwinder Singh (2005) Syed Nayeemuddin (2005–2006) Bob Houghton (2006–2011) Armando Colaco (2011) Savio Medeira (2011–2012) Wim Koevermans (2012–2015) Stephen Constantine (2015–)

Team records and results

Notes

^ From 1964–1972, India had many caretaker managers that all of them were never recorded nor remembered for even managing India.

References

^ ^a ^b "Ranking". FIFA. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
^ ^a ^b "World Football Elo Ratings: India". World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mishra, Rishav (6 January 2013). "Indian Football's Golden Age". Quora (Indian Sports). Retrieved 30 May 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Choudhury, Chandrahas (11 June 2014). "Blame India's World Cup Drought on the Shoes". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
^ Chandran, M.R. Praveen (3 January 2016). "Chetri's strike seals it for India". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
^ "India beat Cameroon to lift Nehru Cup for the third consecutive time". NDTV Sports. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
^ "After 27 years, India bids to make mark on Asian Cup". Dawn. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
^ ^a ^b "The Indian National Team's World Cup qualifying:". Indianfootball.de.
^ "Asian Nations Cup 1964". RSSSF.
^ "Pre-season Training Camp Kicks-off in Delhi". The All India Football Federation. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ ^a ^b Nandi, Dhirtiman (23 August 2015). "Performance Of Foreign Coaches In Indian National Football Team". IndianFootballNetwork. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

External links

Achievements
Preceded by 2006 Tajikistan	AFC Challenge Cup 2008 (First title)	Succeeded by 2010 North Korea
Preceded by 2013 Afghanistan	SAFF Championship 2015 (Sixth title)	Succeeded by Current holders
Preceded by 2009 India	Nehru Cup 2012 (Third title)	Succeeded by Current holders

[12] From 1964–1972, India had many caretaker managers that all of them were never recorded nor remembered for even managing India.

[FIFA_Ranking-1] "Ranking". FIFA. Retrieved 17 February 2014.

[elo-2] "World Football Elo Ratings: India". World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 16 February 2014.

[India_Golden_Age-3] Mishra, Rishav (6 January 2013). "Indian Football's Golden Age". Quora (Indian Sports). Retrieved 30 May 2016.

[India_1950-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Choudhury, Chandrahas (11 June 2014). "Blame India's World Cup Drought on the Shoes". Bloomberg. Retrieved 30 May 2016.

[5] Chandran, M.R. Praveen (3 January 2016). "Chetri's strike seals it for India". The Hindu. Retrieved 30 May 2016.

[6] "India beat Cameroon to lift Nehru Cup for the third consecutive time". NDTV Sports. 2 September 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2016.

[7] "After 27 years, India bids to make mark on Asian Cup". Dawn. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2016.

[World_Cup_record-8] "The Indian National Team's World Cup qualifying:". Indianfootball.de.

[9] "Asian Nations Cup 1964". RSSSF.

[10] "Pre-season Training Camp Kicks-off in Delhi". The All India Football Federation. Retrieved 27 July 2016.

[Bobby-11] Nandi, Dhirtiman (23 August 2015). "Performance Of Foreign Coaches In Indian National Football Team". IndianFootballNetwork. Retrieved 31 May 2016.

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