The Indian national football team has been taking part in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers since the 1986 World Cup. The tenth edition of the Blue Tigers’ quest for a spot in the FIFA World Cup finals seems closer than ever. Igor Stimac and his boys will take on Kuwait and Qatar in a span of two weeks this month in their second round of Qualifiers. The other team in the group is Afghanistan.
In 1950, India secured a spot in the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil by invitation. The draw placed them alongside Sweden, Italy, and Paraguay. However, India decided to withdraw from the World Cup before the tournament commenced. The All India Football Federation cited reasons such as travel expenses, insufficient preparation time, and prioritizing the 1952 Helsinki Olympics over the World Cup for their decision.
Despite their absence from the 1950 World Cup, the subsequent years from 1951 to 1964 are commonly regarded as the “Golden Era” of Indian football. In March 1951, under Rahim’s leadership, India secured their maiden victory at the 1951 Asian Games. Hosted in India, the team emerged triumphant by defeating Iran 1–0 in the gold medal match, marking their first significant achievement. The peak of the team’s success in a competitive tournament occurred during the 1956 Summer Olympics. India attained their best result by finishing in fourth place in the tournament, though they lost the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria 0-3.
During the Golden era, the national team achieved a remarkable victory by securing the prestigious gold medal at the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. Eight years later, in the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, they earned a bronze medal.
The beginning of the 1970s marked the commencement of a significant downturn for Indian football. In the 1974 Tehran Asian Games, the team faced defeat in all their group matches, finishing at the bottom of the table. Subsequently, the team has been unable to secure any medals in football at the Asian Games. Shifting attention to the World Cup qualifiers, after withdrawing from the 1950 edition, the Indian national team did not participate in World Cup qualifiers until the 1986 Mexico World Cup.
In the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) quota for the FIFA 1986 World Cup Qualifiers, 27 teams were divided into two geographic zones. India got placed in the Zone B with Indonesia, Bangladesh and Thailand. With 2 wins and a draw, India finished second in the group. According to the rules, only the group toppers could go through to the second round.
For the 1990 World Cup in Italy, there were 26 teams in the AFC Qualifiers fighting for four spots. But after the draw, India withdrew along with three other teams. India participated in the 1994 World Cup qualifiers and was grouped with South Korea, Bahrain, Lebanon and Hong Kong. A poor performance from team India with just three points kept them at the bottom of the group.
The 1998 World Cup qualification campaign was no better than its previous edition for India. They were grouped with Qatar, Sri Lanka and Philippines. Qatar took the top spot in the group and qualified to the next round. With 4 points, India finished at the 3rd position.
India’s first competitive matches in the 21st century were the 2002 World Cup qualifiers for a ticket to Japan and Korea. Teams were added to the world cup finals and the qualification process was getting tougher with every edition. 39 teams were grouped into 9 groups of 4 teams each and 1 group had 3 teams, fighting for 4 spots in the World Cup finals spot. Grouped with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen and Brunei, it was a difficult task for team India to secure the top spot in the group. Though the Indian team finished at the 3rd spot after UAE and Yemen, the brand of football was much improved than the previous editions. The team won 3 matches including a historic one against UAE in Bangalore. Jules Alberto scored in the 71st minute through a set-piece to secure the famous 1-0 victory versus UAE in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. A 3-3 draw against Yemen hurt India the most. Had the Blue Tigers held on to a 3-2 lead, they would have progressed to the second round in place of UAE as the group leaders.
Post 2002, India’s quest for World Cup qualification again took a further downturn. The 2006 edition saw the national team finish at the 3rd place in their group behind Japan and Oman, with 4 points from 6 matches.
South Africa 2010 Qualifiers saw the seeding system being introduced. India was seeded 28 in Asia and in the play-offs lost to Lebanon 6-3 in aggregate and failed to qualify for the second round. India’s quest for a spot in Rio 2014 met with the same fate. They were seeded 27 and were drawn against UAE. This time, UAE got the better of India with an aggregate of 5-2, restricting India’s progress to the second round.
Qualification for Russia 2018 saw India go through to the second round but it was not a campaign much different from the previous ones. Teams ranked 1-34 were given bye in the first round and India was 35th in Asia at that time. They were drawn against Nepal in the Round-1 playoffs and secured a 2-0 victory on aggregate. With Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Guam in the group, India finished 5th. In 8 matches, India just secured 3 points from its 1-0 win against Guam.
Things got better for the Qatar 2022 qualification campaign. India, ranked 18 in Asia, got a bye in round-1. In round 2, with Qatar, Oman, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the Blue Tigers performed well and finished 3rd with 7 points. As Qatar had automatic qualification being the hosts, Oman qualified from this group securing the second spot.
Perhaps the best chance for India to book a spot for the World Cup finals is in the current edition, the FIFA 2026 World Cup. From the 2026 edition, 48 countries will take part in the finals with 8.5 spots for AFC teams.
The Blue Tigers will take on Kuwait at 10 pm IST on 16th November and they will face Qatar on the 21st in Bhubaneshwar. Ranked 18th in Asia, India got through to the second round of the qualifiers and are grouped with Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan. Top two teams will qualify for the third round.