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Football national side

India

National team · India

«Blue Tigers»

65 Matches
20 wins
21 draws
24 losses
69–78 Goals
−9 Difference
1.1 Scored per game
Form L 27 May · Away Jamaica · 0:2 L 30 May · Home Zimbabwe · 0:1 L 5 Jun · Away Tajikistan · 1:3 D 9 Jun · Away Tajikistan · 1:1 D 25 Sep · Home Panama · 1:1 L 3 Oct · Home Brazil · 0:4

Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata holds up to 85,000 people, even though it has no single ground it calls its own — the side moves between venues across the country, with the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi filling in as the other regular stop.

The federation behind the team, the All India Football Federation, was set up in 1937, but the national side itself only took shape in 1948, the year after independence, and went straight into the Olympics that summer. The nickname came far later: the AIFF settled on "Blue Tigers" in 2013, retiring the "Bhangra Boys" tag the team had carried through the early 2000s.

Syed Abdul Rahim's decade in charge, from 1950 to 1963, still sets the reference point for what the team could do in Asia — Olympic semi-finals and two Asian Games golds came under him. Nothing since has matched that run, though Bob Houghton came closest in the modern era, winning the AFC Challenge Cup in 2008. Sunil Chhetri carried the side through the years in between, scoring 95 international goals, a tally no one else in Indian football has approached.

The SAFF Championship is where India has hoarded its silverware, winning it eight times, most recently in 2023, and matches against Pakistan and Bangladesh carry the weight the SAFF title lacks against the rest of Asia — the history between them adds an edge no other fixture on the calendar has. The 1964 Asian Cup final, lost as runners-up, remains the closest India has come to continental football's top prize.

Ranked as high as 94th in the world in February 1996, the team had fallen to 173rd by March 2015.

Latest results

Fixtures and results
6 Oct Friendlies Uruguay H
3 Oct Friendlies Brazil H 0:4 L
25 Sep Friendlies Panama H 1:1 D
9 Jun Friendlies Tajikistan A 1:1 D
5 Jun Friendlies Tajikistan A 1:3 L
30 May Friendlies Zimbabwe H 0:1 L

Standing

Asian Cup

Group stage · Group B

# Team M W D L Goals Pts
1 Australia 3 2 1 0 4:1 7
2 Uzbekistan 3 1 2 0 4:1 5
3 Syria 3 1 1 1 1:1 4
4 India 3 0 0 3 0:6 0
Full table

Team statistics

matches counted in total: 65
65 Matches
20 wins
21 draws
24 losses
69–78 Goals
−9 Difference
1.1 Scored per game
Match outcomes matches counted in total: 65
20wins: 20 · 30% 21draws: 21 · 32% 24losses: 24 · 36%
wins draws losses
Scored and conceded last matches
27 May · Away Jamaica · 0:2
30 May · Home Zimbabwe · 0:1
5 Jun · Away Tajikistan · 1:3
9 Jun · Away Tajikistan · 1:1
25 Sep · Home Panama · 1:1
3 Oct · Home Brazil · 0:4
scored — above the line conceded — below the line
Metric Total Home Away
Matches 65 34 31
Scored 69 43 26
Conceded 78 36 42
Scored per game 1.1 1.3 0.8
Conceded per game 1.2 1.1 1.4
Difference −9 +7 −16

Key players

by appearances over the last year
Albino Gomes Goalkeeper 2 Matches Vikram Pratap Singh Sandhu Forward 2 Matches M. K. Sahan Forward 2 Matches Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Goalkeeper 2 Matches Akash Mishra Defender 2 Matches Bijoy Varghese Defender 2 Matches Rahim Ali Forward 2 Matches Pramvir Singh Defender 2 Matches

Squad of India

by appearances over the last year
Number Player Position Matches
23 Albino Gomes Goalkeeper 2
14 Vikram Pratap Singh Sandhu Forward 2
12 M. K. Sahan Forward 2
1 Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Goalkeeper 2
6 Akash Mishra Defender 2
5 Bijoy Varghese Defender 2
11 Rahim Ali Forward 2
3 Pramvir Singh Defender 2
17 Edmund Lalrindika Forward 2
15 Ricky John Shabong Midfielder 2
19 Farukh Choudhary Forward 2
16 Macarton Louis Nickson Midfielder 2
13 Prabhsukhan Gill Goalkeeper 1
24 Irfan Yadav Forward 1
22 Muhammed Ashique Kuruniyan Midfielder 1
20 Hmingthanmawia Ralte Defender 1
18 Sahal Abdul Samad Midfielder 1
25 Mehtab Singh Defender 1
2 Tekcham Abhishek Singh Defender 1
7 Anirudh Thapa Midfielder 1
9 Manvir Singh Midfielder 1
8 Lalengmawia Ralte Midfielder 1
26 Som Kumar Goalkeeper 1
10 Ryan Dale Williams Forward 1
4 A. Ali Defender 1
21 J. Gupta Defender 1
Rahul Bheke Defender 1
Roshan Singh Defender 1
Jeakson Singh Thounaojam Defender 1
Nikhil Chandra Shekhar Poojary Defender 1
Lallianzuala Chhangte Midfielder 1
Parthib Gogoi Midfielder 1
Hrithik Tiwari Goalkeeper 1
P. N. Nufal Midfielder 1
22 Nikhil Barla Defender 1
5 Sandesh Jhingan Defender 1

Fixtures of India

Honours of India

  • SAFF Championship 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2011, 2015, 2021, 2023 8
  • Asian Games 1951, 1962 2
  • Nehru Cup 2007, 2009 2
  • Challenge Cup 2008 1
  • AFC Asian Cup 1964 1

Team news