The India national football team representsIndia in internationalfootball and is controlled by theAll India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction ofFIFA and governed in Asia by theAFC, the team is also part of theSouth Asian Football Federation. The team, which was once considered one of the best teams inAsia, had its golden era during the 1950s and early 1960s. During this period, under the coaching ofSyed Abdul Rahim, India won gold during the1951 and1962Asian Games, won silver medal in 1964 AFC Asia Cup as runners up, while finishing fourth during the1956 Summer Olympics.India has never participated in theFIFA World Cup, although the team did qualify by default for the1950 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 aFIFA World Cup.[1] After gaining independence in 1947, India managed to qualify for the World Cup held in1950. This was due toMyanmar,Indonesia, and thePhilippines withdrawing fromqualification.[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 includeFIFA not allowing Indian players to play in the tournament barefoot and theAll India Football Federation not considering the World Cup an important tournament compared to theOlympics.[1]
After withdrawing from the 1950 FIFA World Cup, India didn't enter the qualifying rounds of the tournament between1954 and1982.[2] Since the1986 qualifiers, with the exception of the1990 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 aFIFA World Cup.[1] The closest they came to qualify was back in2002 when they were a point away from progressing in to the final round.
The results only include matches considered as FIFAA matches (including Olympic finals and Qualifier matches). Other matches played against Club teams, Underage sides or B teams are not included here. Updated as of 18 November 2025 (vsBangladesh).[23][24][25][n]
^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 aFIFA member until 2000.
^ Although there is some conjecture regarding the status of several games (especially pre-1992 matches), the table includes all fixtures recognised byFIFA 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 onRSSSF andFIFA sources.[26][27]
^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]
Stephen Constantine
Sukhwinder Singh
Wim Koevermans
Igor Štimac
Manolo Márquez
1930
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2034
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1980
1984
2007
2015
2019
1908–
1936
1952
1988
1954
1958
1974
1990
2006
2010
2012
2014
1993
2025
Champions (1): 1971[19]
Third place (2): 1976, 1977[20]
Runners-up (1): 1983[21]
11–1India 
South Vietnam
North Yemen
