India national football team

India
Nickname(s) Blue Tigers
Association AIFF
Sub-confederation SAFF (South Asia)
Confederation AFC (Asia)
Head coach Stephen Constantine
Asst coach Lee Johnson
Captain Subrata Pal
Most caps Baichung Bhutia (107)
Top scorer Sunil Chhetri (45)
FIFA code IND
FIFA ranking 147 Increase 26 (9 April 2015)
Highest FIFA ranking 96 (February 1996)
Lowest FIFA ranking 173 (March 2015)
Elo ranking 180 Steady (10 March 2015)
Highest Elo ranking 42 (1956)
Lowest Elo ranking 180 (December 2014)
First colours
Second colours
First international
Unofficial:
 Australia 5–3 India British Raj
(Sydney, Australia; 3 September 1938)
Official:
 India 1–2 France 
(London, England; July 31, 1948)[1]
Biggest win
 India 7–0 Ceylon 
(Bangalore, India; 29 December 1963)
Biggest defeat
 Soviet Union 11–1 India India
(Moscow, Soviet Union;16 September 1955)
Asian Cup
Appearances 4 (First in 1964)
Best result Runners-up: 1964

The India national football team is governed by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). Since 1948, the AIFF has been affiliated with FIFA, the international governing body for football. In 1954, the AIFF became one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).The team was automatically advanced to play in the 1950 FIFA World Cup (all the other Asian teams withdrew), but they did not go to the tournament in Brazil due to the cost of travels.[2] They won gold medals at two Asian Games and one silver at the Asian Cup.

History

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 the Olympics over the FIFA World Cup.[2]

The period from 1951 to 1962 is considered the golden era in Indian football. Under the tutelage of legendary Syed Abdul Rahim[3] India became the best team in Asia. India's football team started the 1950s with their triumph in the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted[4] 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.[5] After the result the AIFF immediately made it mandatory to wear boots.[6] India then went on to finish second in the 1954 Asian Games held in Manila.[7] 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 hat trick 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.[8]

Then in 1962 India went on to win the 1962 Asian Games where they beat South Korea 2–1 in the final.[9]

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 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.[10]

After the Asian Cup India football went downhill. Failure in many Asian Cup qualification tournaments meant that the next time India reached a quarter-final stage was as host in the 1982 Asian Games.[11] Then all of a sudden India managed to qualify for the 1984 AFC Asian Cup after twenty years out of the Asian Cup tournament.[12] But India during the competition failed to make any impact.[13] 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.[14]

As a result, India football has steadily earned greater recognition and respect, both within the country and abroad. India's LG Cup win in Vietnam under Stephen Constantine was one of the few bright spots in the early part of the 2000s. It was India's first victory in a football tournament outside the subcontinent after 1974.In 2003 SAFF Bangladesh knocked out India beating them 2-1 at extra time. In November 2003, then India coach Stephen Constantine was named AFC Manager of the Month.[14]

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.[15]

In 2011, India started off their campaign by participating in 2011 AFC Asian Cup for which they qualified after 27 years. India lost all three matches but did manage to perform well in patches.[16]

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.

Home Stadium

The Indian football team does not have a permanent home stadium as of 2011 due to so many football stadiums not meeting FIFA guidelines. The only stadiums that are FIFA and AFC approved are the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium also in New Delhi, Nehru Stadium in Chennai, Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, and most recently approved after a renovation the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata and Bangalore Football Stadium in Bangalore.

Kit

India's traditional football jersey colour is blue. The team is known to have used blue shirts with white stripes in the past, as well as a more recent design with light blue and dark blue stripes, both of which are illustrated below. Nike, Inc. is the apparel sponsor of the Indian national football team.

In 2010, Panasonic signed a deal to sponsor the Indian team's football jersey.[17] However, in December 2012, they decided not to renew their contract.[18] The team went without any sponsor for more than 7 months in 2013, until the All India Football Federation (AIFF) signed a sponsorship deal with the Indian multinational oil and gas company ONGC.[19]

Personnel

Current Technical Staff

Stephen Constantine, the current Head Coach
Position Name
Head coach England Stephen Constantine [20]
Assistant coach England Lee Johnson
Assistant coach India Shanmugam Venkatesh [20]
Manager India G S Srinivas Murthy
Goalkeeping coach Brazil Rogerio Ramos
Physio India Gigy George
Fitness coach Australia Daniel Darrel Deigan
Team Doctor India Kiran Kumar Kulkarni
Masseur India Liaqat Ali
Video Analyst India Shankar Sigamani
Kit Manager India Sanjay Dhyani

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifier against Nepal on 17 March 2015.[21]
Caps and goals as of 17 March 2014 after the game against Nepal.

# Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Subrata Pal 24 November 1986 60 0 India Salgaocar
16 GK Arindam Bhattacharya 20 May 1989 5 0 India Bharat FC
22 GK Gurpreet Singh Sandhu 3 February 1992 1 0 Norway Stabæk
4 DF Arnab Mondal 25 September 1989 12 1 India East Bengal
17 DF Aiborlang Khongjee 9 December 1987 4 0 India Shillong Lajong
3 DF Saumik Dey 20 August 1984 2 0 India East Bengal
5 DF Sandesh Jhingan 21 July 1993 2 0 India Sporting Goa
2 DF Pritam Kotal 9 August 1993 2 0 India Mohun Bagan
14 DF Keegan Pereira 7 November 1987 0 0 India Bengaluru FC
21 DF Augustin Fernandes 13 October 1987 0 0 India Salgaocar
6 MF Lenny Rodrigues 10 May 1987 22 0 India Dempo
20 MF Lalrindika Ralte 7 September 1992 14 0 India East Bengal
7 MF Eugeneson Lyngdoh 10 September 1986 2 0 India Bengaluru FC
8 MF Cavin Lobo 4 April 1988 2 0 India East Bengal
13 MF Dhanpal Ganesh 13 June 1994 1 0 India Pune
18 MF Prabir Das 20 December 1993 0 0 India Dempo
11 FW Sunil Chhetri 3 August 1984 77 45 India Bengaluru FC
23 FW Jeje Lalpekhlua 7 January 1991 21 8 India Mohun Bagan
12 FW Alwyn George 3 January 1992 3 0 India Dempo
15 FW Jackichand Singh 17 March 1992 2 0 India Royal Wahingdoh
19 FW Holicharan Narzary 10 May 1994 1 0 India Dempo

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the India squad within the last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Karanjit Singh 8 January 1986 16 0 India Salgaocar v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
DF Raju Gaikwad 25 September 1990 23 0 India East Bengal v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
DF Rino Anto 3 January 1988 0 0 India Bengaluru FC v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
DF Rowilson Rodrigues 26 March 1987 0 0 India Dempo v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
DF Denzil Franco June 6, 1986 12 1 India Atletico de Kolkata v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014
DF Narayan Das September 25, 1993 2 0 India Dempo v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014
MF Mandar Rao Desai 18 March 1992 0 0 India Dempo v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
MF Anthony D'Souza 2 March 1987 0 0 India Pune v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
MF Clifford Miranda June 11, 1982 43 6 India Dempo v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014
MF Arata Izumi July 31, 1982 9 0 India Pune v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014
MF Lalkamal Bhowmick January 2, 1987 1 0 India Mohun Bagan v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014
FW Balwant Singh 15 December 1986 1 0 India Mohun Bagan v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
FW Romeo Fernandes 6 July 1992 0 0 Brazil Atlético Paranaense v.    Nepal, 12 March 2015
FW Victorino Fernandes February 3, 1989 2 0 India Sporting Goa v.  Palestine, 6 October 2014

Previous squads

AFC Asian Cup Squads

Results and Fixtures

2015

2016

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

India qualified only once for the World Cup, 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 AIFF decided against going to the World Cup.

AFC Asian Cup

Asian Cup record
Year Round GP W D L GF GA
Hong Kong 1956 Did not enter------
South Korea 1960 Did not Qualify------
Israel 1964 Runner Up320153
1968 to 1980 Did not Qualify------
Singapore 1984 Round 1 401307
1988 to 2007 Did not Qualify------
Qatar 2011 Round 13003313
Australia 2015 Did not Qualify------
TotalBest : Runner Up 10 2 1 7 8 23

Asian Games Records

(Under-23 team since 2002)

Asian Games record
Year Round GP W D L GF GA
India 1951Champions 330070
Philippines 1954Group Stage210136
Japan 1958Fourth Place52031213
Indonesia 1962Champions5401116
Thailand 1966Group Stage310247
Thailand 1970Third Place631285
Iran 1974Group Stage3003212
Thailand 1978Semi Finals5104513
India 1982Quarter Finals421153
South Korea 1986Group Stage300318
China 1990Withdrew------
Japan 1994Did Not Enter------
Thailand 1998Round 2510438
South Korea 2002Group Stage320163
Qatar 2006Group Stage311134
China 2010Round 2510438
South Korea 2014Group Stage200207
TotalBest: Champions 55223327396

SAFF Championship

SAFF Championship Record
Host/Year Round Position GP W D* L GF GA
Pakistan 1993Champions 1st321041
Sri Lanka 1995Runners-Up2nd311123
Nepal 1997Champions1st4310123
India 1999Champions1st431061
Bangladesh 2003Third Place3rd521285
Pakistan 2005Champions1st541092
Maldives Sri Lanka 2008Runners-Up2nd540193
Bangladesh 2009Champions1st540132
India 2011Champions1st5410162
Nepal 2013Runners-Up2nd521245
India 2015To Be Determined
Total 10/10 6 Titles 44 29 8 7 73 27

AFC Challenge Cup record

AFC Challenge Cup
Year Round GP Won Drew Lost
Bangladesh 2006 Quarter-finals* 4 1 2 1
India 2008 Champions 5 4 1 0
Sri Lanka 2010 Group Stage* 3 0 0 3
Nepal 2012 Group Stage 3 0 0 3
Maldives 2014 Did not qualify – – –
–
Total Best: Champions 15 5 3 7
  • India did not field the senior team in this competition.[22]

Nehru Cup record

Nehru Cup
Year Round GP W D L GF GA
India2007 Champions 5 4 0 1 13 3
India2009 Champions 5 3 0 2 6 5
India2012 Champions 5 3 1 1 7 4
Total Best: Champions 15 10 1 4 26 12

All-time team record

<Update required>

Honours

Continental

Runners-up (1): 1964
Gold medal (2): 1951, 1962
Bronze medal (1): 1970
Champions (1): 2008

Regional

Winners (6): 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011
Runners-up (3): 1995, 2008, 2013
Third place (1): 2003
Gold Medal (3): 1985, 1987, 1995
Silver Medal (2): 1993, 2004
Bronze Medal (2): 1989, 1999

Managers

Manager Period Played Won Drawn Lost Win %
India Balaidas Chatterjee 1948 1 0 0 1 0.0
India Syed Abdul Rahim 1950–1963 42 26 3 13 61.9
England Harry Wright 1963–1964 7 5 1 1 71.4
No permanent manager from 1964–1972[note 1]
India Pradip Banerjee 1972–1981 40 11 5 24 27.5
England Bob Bootland 1982 13 2 5 6 15.4
Republic of Ireland Joe Kinnear 1983 13 4 0 9 30.8
Serbia Milovan Ćirić 1984–1985 11 2 4 5 18.2
India Pradip Banerjee 1985 2 2 0 0 100.0
India Syed Nayeemuddin 1986 6 0 1 5 0.0
India Amal Dutta 1987–1988 8 2 3 3 25.0
Hungary József Gelei 1989–1991 6 2 2 2 33.3
Czech Republic Jiří Pešek 1993–1994 22 5 6 11 22.7
Uzbekistan Rustam Akhramov 1995–1997 20 7 5 8 35.0
India Syed Nayeemuddin 1997–1998 8 1 1 6 12.5
India Sukhwinder Singh 1998–2001 24 11 5 8 45.8
England Stephen Constantine 2002–2005 21 6 5 10 28.6
India Sukhwinder Singh 2005 5 1 1 3 20.0
India Syed Nayeemuddin 2005–2006 8 4 2 2 50.0
England Bob Houghton 2006–2011 45 20 5 20 44.4
India Armando Colaco 2011 6 1 2 3 16.7
India Savio Medeira 2011–2012 15 5 2 8 33.3
Netherlands Wim Koevermans 2012–2015 20 8 4 8 40.0
England Stephen Constantine 2015– 2 1 1 0 50.0

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ↑ From 1964–1972, India had many caretaker managers that all of them were never recorded nor remembered for even managing India.
References
  1. ↑ "Olympic Football Tournament London 1948". FIFA. 2015-03-22. Retrieved 2015-03-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Prem Panicker Barefoot in Bengal and Other Stories. yfittopostblog.com (2010-06-14). Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  3. ↑ Legends of Indian Football: Rahim Saab. Thehardtackle.com (2010-12-26). Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  4. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1951 New Delhi Asian Games. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  5. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  6. ↑ Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000.. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  7. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1954 Manila Asian Games. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  8. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  9. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1962 D'Jakarta Asian Games. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  10. ↑ 1964 AFC Asian Cup
  11. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  12. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1984 Singapore Asia Cup Qualifiers. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  13. ↑ The Indian Senior Team at the 1984 Singapore Asia Cup. Indianfootball.de. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Stephen Constantine, Sudan National Team Head Coach, UEFA PRO Licence holder, USSF C Licence, USSF A Licence. Stephenconstantine.co.uk. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  15. ↑ Bob Houghton The Catalyst Behind The Progress Of Indian Football. The Sports Mirror. October 13, 2010. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  16. ↑ India in AFC Asian Cup 2011: Performance Review. Thehardtackle.com (2011-01-20). Retrieved on 2012-01-21.
  17. ↑ "Panasonic to sponsor football team's jersey". Deccan Herald. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Paul, Abhishek (30 January 2013). "Sponsors shy away from Indian national team as contract ends" (Mail Online India). Daily Mail. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  19. ↑ Correspondent, Principal (August 28, 2013). "ONGC to sponsor Indian team" (SPORT). The Hindu. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 https://www.the-aiff.com/news-center-details.htm?id=6293
  21. ↑ "India vs Nepal: 17 March 2015". FIFA. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  22. ↑ The AIFF, 14 Feb 2010. The-aiff.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-21.

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