User:ArsenalFan700/India national football team (First Uncompleted Draft)

The India national football team represents India in international football and is controlled by the All India Football Federation. India is a member of the Asian Football Confederation. Since 1948, India has been affiliated with FIFA, the international governing body for football. In 1954, India became one of the founding members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

India have qualified for the FIFA World Cup only once in its history and the AFC Asian Cup three times, but have never won any of the tournaments. India has, however, created some memorable moments in its history like the 1956 Summer Olympics Quarter-Final victory over Australia in Melbourne by a score of 4–2 to send India into the semi-finals. This match was also memorable for the hat-trick scored by Indian forward Neville D'Souza which was the first ever hat-trick at the Olympics scored by an Asian player. India also created history when they won the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup, which qualified India for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, the first time they qualified for the Asian Cup in 27 years, by defeating Tajikistan in the final 4–1 with Sunil Chhetri scoring a hat-trick and Indian football legend Baichung Bhutia also scoring to propel India to the cup.

After going to the Asian Cup in 2011 interest in Indian football has risen with the move towards importance over the domestic game and the youth teams. India's most recent successes post-Asian Cup were winning the 2011 SAFF Championship and winning the 2012 Nehru Cup in August 2012 after beating Cameroon's B team in penalties.

1930–1950: The Early Years
In the late 1930s Indian-born exhibition teams started touring Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, however the first official match for the India national football team as an affiliate to FIFA was during the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, England against France on 31 July 1948 in which India lost 2–1 with Sarangapani Raman scoring the first ever goal for the India national team in the 70th minute.

In 1950 India qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup which was being held in Brazil due to the other Asian nations in their qualification group withdrawing from the World Cup. However before the tournament began India withdrew themselves. The All India Football Federation, the governing body of football in India, said that the reason for the withdrawal was because of a lack of proper transportation to Brazil which also led to a lack of preparation for the World Cup.

1950–1964: The Golden Era
The period of 1950 to 1964 is considered as the golden era of Indian football due to the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim. The period began with the winning of the 1951 Asian Games which were held in India after India defeated Iran in the final on 10 March 1951 from a goal from Sahu Mewalal in the 34th minute to guide India to a 1–0 victory. Mewalal went on also to become the top scorer of the tournament with four goals.

The next year India participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland where they lost in the preliminary round to eventual runners-up Yugoslavia 10–1. After that tournament it was made mandatory that India were to wear football boots at all national football matches instead of playing in barefoot. India then went on to participate in the 1954 Asian Games which were held in Manila, where after losing to Indonesia 4–0 India were knocked-out at the Preliminary Stage.

India then went on to their biggest finish in a major tournament yet when they finished in fourth place in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia after losing 3–0 to Bulgaria in the bronze-medal match on 7 December 1956, but not before India managed an historic victory over the hosts, Australia, in the quarter-finals on 1 December 1956 by a score of 4–2 with striker Neville D'Souza scoring the very first hat-trick ever scored by an Asian footballer at the Summer Olympics. India then went to play in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan where the national side managed to make it to the bronze-medal match where they lost 4–1 to Indonesia.

India then went on to participate in the qualifiers for the 1960 AFC Asian Cup, after not being selected to play in the 1956 AFC Asian Cup - the first edition of the tournament, where they had to face off against runners-up from the 1956 Asian Cup Israel along with Iran, and Pakistan. India played their first Asian Cup qualifier on 7 December 1959 against Pakistan at the Maharaja College Stadium in Kochi, Kerala where a goal from Derek D'Souza saw India win the match 1–0 against their close neighbors. India then went on to lose to Israel 3-1 the next day before beating Iran 3-1 but three straight losses to Pakistan, Israel, and Iran saw India not qualify for the 1960 AFC Asian Cup.

India then managed to win the football tournament at the 1962 Asian Games held in Indonesia when India defeated South Korea in the final by a score of 2–1 with Pradip Kumar Banerjee and Jarnail Singh scoring the goals for India to win them their second and last gold medal for football at the Asian Games. India then went on to finish the "Golden Era" after they finished as runners-up in the 1964 AFC Asian Cup, their first Asian Cup appearance in their history, which was held in Israel in a round-robin style. India managed to defeat South Korea 2–0 in their first match on 27 May 1964 before they lost to Israel on 29 May 1964. India finished the tournament with a 3–1 victory over Hong Kong on 2 June 1964.

FIFA World Cup record
India has never played at the FIFA World Cup finals. However they did qualify for the tournament back in 1950 which was held in Brazil due to all the teams in their qualifying group withdrawing before the qualifiers began but before the official tournament began India withdrew themselves from the World Cup. The All India Football Federation, the governing body of football in India, said that the reason for the withdrawal was because of a lack of proper transportation to Brazil which also led to a lack of preparation for the World Cup.

Since 1950 India has struggled to qualify for the World Cup. In 1954 India were denied the chance to qualify for the World Cup as only three teams were given the chance. Then from 1958 to 1982 India did not enter the World Cup qualifiers. In 1986 however India participated in the qualifiers in which they played six games, won 2, drew 3, and lost 1.

India's best chance to qualify for the World Cup then came in the 2002 qualifiers in which India were placed in Group 8 with the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Brunei. India at the end of six games were only two points away from qualification to the final round of the qualifiers after winning three of their games, drawing two, and only losing once. India also scored 11 goals in that round and only gave away five goals.

AFC Asian Cup record
India have participated in only three AFC Asian Cup's and had done considerably well in their very first appearance in the 1964 edition in which the team finished second place in a round-robin style tournament that year losing out to the hosts Israel by two points. Since then India has failed to progress beyond the first round of the Asian Cup.

AFC Challenge Cup

 * India did not field the senior team in this competition.

Asian Games
(Under-23 team since 2002)

Stadiums


Since 2011 the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi has been considered the traditional home of the India team with the stadium hosting two tournaments for India since the lease between the All India Football Federation and the Sports Authority of India was signed in October 2011.

The India team also use plenty of other stadiums in India however. The Ambedkar Stadium, also located in Delhi with a capacity of around 20,000, hosted the 2007 Nehru Cup and the 2009 Nehru Cup in which India won both editions and it hosted the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup Final where India managed to beat Tajikistan 4–1 and thus qualify for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, India's first Asian Cup appearance in 27 years. India has also occasionally used other stadiums for friendly matches as well such as the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune, Maharashtra, the Fatorda Stadium in Margao, Goa, the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal, the Nehru Stadium in Kochi, Kerala, and the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, Assam.