India National Football Team - History

History

Indian teams started touring Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in late 1930s. Soon after the success of several Indian football clubs, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) was formed in 1937. The 1948 London Olympics was India's first major international tournament, where a predominately barefooted Indian team lost 2–1 to France, failing to convert two penalties. The Indian team was greeted and appreciated by the crowd for their sporting manner.

India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. But the governing body, the AIFF, decided against going to the World Cup, being unable to understand the importance of the event at that time. Reason shown by AIFF was that there was the cost of travel (although FIFA agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses), lack of practice time, team selection issues and valuing Olympics over FIFA World cup.

The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim India became the best team in Asia. The Indian team started the 1950s with their triumph in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted Later next year they went on to participate in the 1952 Olympics, but lost 10–1 to Yugoslavia. Like before four years earlier, many of the team played without boots. After the result the AIFF immediately made it mandatory to wear boots. India then went on to finish second in the 1954 Asian Games held in Manila. At the 1956 Olympic Games they finished fourth, which is regarded as one of finest achievements in Indian football. India first met hosts Australia, winning 4–2 with Neville D'Souza becoming the first Asian to score a hatrick in the Olympics and also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympic semi-finals. They lost 4–1 to Yugoslavia, and lost the third place play-off match 3–0 to Bulgaria.

Then in 1962 India went on to win the 1962 Asian Games where they beat South Korea 2–1 in the final.

Then in 1964 India played in its most memorable tournament yet. The 1964 AFC Asian Cup where they finished as runners-up thanks to then-current manager Harry Wright. India won their first match against South Korea 2–0, then lost 2–0 to the hosts Israel then won 3–1 against Hong Kong which gave India second in the tournament.

After the Asian Cup India went downhill. Failure in a many qualification tournaments meant that the next time India reached a quarter-final stage was as host in the 1982 Asian Games. Then all of a sudden India managed to qualify for the 1984 AFC Asian Cup after twenty years out of the cup. But India during the competition failed to make any impact. India would then fail to make the Asian Cup for another 27 years.

Although India failed to qualify for the 2004 Asian Cup, the senior team did well by showing off a silver-medal winning performance in the inaugural Afro Asian Games, with victories over Rwanda and Zimbabwe (then 85 places ahead of India in the world rankings) along the way, losing the final by just 1–0 to Uzbekistan.

As a result, Indian football has steadily earned greater recognition and respect, both within the country and abroad. The LG Cup win in Vietnam under Stephen Constantine was one of the few bright spots in early part of 2000s. It was India's first victory in a football tournament outside the subcontinent after 1974. In November 2003, then India coach Stephen Constantine was named AFC Manager of the Month.

In 2006 Bob Houghton was later appointed coach of team. His appointment saw a general progress in India’s performances crowned by victory in 2007 Nehru Cup in August 2007. Houghton then led India to the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup title as they beat Tajikistan 4–1 in August 2008. Winning the AFC Challenge Cup qualified India for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1984. He also oversaw the Indian team to its second consecutive Nehru Cup trophy by winning 2009 Nehru Cup.

In 2011, India started off their campaign by participating in 2011 AFC Asian Cup for which they qualified after 24 years. India lost all three matches but did manage to perform well in patches.

In 2012, India won the 15th edition of Nehru cup by beating Cameroon 5-4 in penalties as the full time score was tied at 2-2, making it the third successive Nehru cup win for India.