India national under-23 football team

India U-23 National Football Team

Nickname(s)	Blue Tigers
Association	AIFF
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Igor Štimac
Captain	Suresh Singh Wangjam
FIFA code	IND
First colours Second colours
First international
India  1–1  Oman (Hyderabad, India; 4 August 1991)
Biggest win
India  5–1  Pakistan (Chittagong, Bangladesh; 2 February 2010)
Biggest defeat
Japan 5–0  India (Guangzhou, China; 16 November 2010) India  0–5  United Arab Emirates (Incheon, South Korea; 15 September 2014)
Olympic Games
Appearances	None
AFC U-23 Asian Cup
Appearances	None
Asian Games
Appearances	4 (first in 2002)
Best result	Round of 16 (2010)

The India national under-23 football team represents India in international under-23 football and is controlled by the All India Football Federation (AIFF). A member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the team is eligible to compete in the Summer Olympic Games, the AFC U-23 Asian Cup, and the Asian Games, subject to qualification.

Since only allowing under-23 sides to compete in the Olympic Games in 1992, India have never qualified for the summer games. The under-23 side have also never participated in the AFC U-23 Asian Cup while at best only making it to the round of 16 in the Asian Games.

History[]

Asian Games[]

2002 Busan Games[]

The under-23 side participated in their first ever tournament during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with China, Turkmenistan, and Bangladesh. Their first match was against Bangladesh. India won 3–0 through a brace from future senior captain Baichung Bhutia and a strike from Renedy Singh. India played their second match two days later against Turkmenistan. They won 3–1. Bhutia again scored a brace while Abhishek Yadav scored the third goal as India ran out 3–1 winners. Unfortunately, in their final match against China, India could not find the net as they fell 2–0 and thus were knocked-out of the Asian Games.^[1]

2006 Doha Games[]

During the 2006 Asian Games India were placed in a group with Iran, Hong Kong, and Maldives. In their first match against Hong Kong, India drew 1–1 with Pappachen Pradeep scoring the lone Indian goal. In their second match, India faced off against Maldives and won 2–1. Irungbam Surkumar Singh and Subhas Sumbhu Chakrobarty were the scorers for India that night. Finally, in their last match against Iran, India once again lost 2–0 and thus were once again knocked-out of the Asian Games.^[2]

2010 Guangzhou Games[]

During the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, India were placed in a group with Qatar, Kuwait Athletes, and Singapore. India lost their first match against the Kuwait Athletes 2–0 and then lost their second match against Qatar 2–1 with the lone India goal coming from Dharmaraj Ravanan. India went on to win their final match of the group stage against Singapore 4–1. Four players scored each goal, Jewel Raja, Balwant Singh, Jibon Singh, and Manish Maithani. The victory managed to help India finish in third-place which then helped India become the best third-place team out of all the other third-placed teams and thus qualified them for the Round of 16.

In the Round of 16, India took on powerhouse Japan at the Huangpu Sports Center. India went on to lose the match 5–0 with Kensuke Nagai scoring a brace and Ryohei Yamazaki, Kazuya Yamamura, and Kota Mizunuma scoring a goal each.^[3]

2014 Incheon Games[]

For the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, India were placed in Group G with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In their first match against the United Arab Emirates, India went down 5–0. Seven days later, India were defeated by Jordan 2–0 to end their Asian Games participation.^[4]

Other tournaments[]

2009 SAFF Championship[]

Before the 2009 SAFF Championship in Bangladesh, it was announced that India would send the under-23 side to the tournament.^[5] India were placed in Group A with Afghanistan, Maldives, and Nepal. In their first match against Afghanistan, India won 1–0 through Jeje Lalpekhlua.^[6] In their next match against Nepal, a Sushil Kumar Singh goal was the difference as India won again 1–0.^[7] Despite losing the last match of the group stage to Maldives 2–0 India were still through to the semi-finals.

India defeated Bangladesh in the semi-finals 1–0 through Sushil Kumar Singh.^[8] Finally, in the final against Maldives, India won through penalties 3–1 after finishing extra-time with the score at 0–0 to win the championship.^[9]

Results and fixtures[]

For past match results of the national team, see the team's results page.

2019[]

2021[]

Coaching staff[]

The current coaching staff of the team are:^[10]

Position	Name
Head Coach	Igor Stimac
Assistant Coach	Shanmugam Venkatesh
Fitness Coach	Luka Radman
Goalkeeping Coach	Tomislav Rogić

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following 23 players were called up for 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification matches which are scheduled to be played between 24 and 30 October 2021. Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to compete in the tournament.^[11]

Caps and goals are updated as of 30 October 2021.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Dheeraj Moirangthem	(2000-07-04) 4 July 2000 (age 21)	6	0	Goa
13	1GK	Mohammad Nawaz	(2000-01-21) 21 January 2000 (age 22)	0	0	Mumbai City
23	1GK	Prabhsukhan Singh	(2001-01-02) 2 January 2001 (age 21)	0	0	Kerala Blasters
2	2DF	Ashish Rai	(1999-02-02) 2 February 1999 (age 23)	4	0	Hyderabad
3	2DF	Sumit Rathi	(2001-08-26) 26 August 2001 (age 20)	2	0	ATK Mohun Bagan
4	2DF	Akash Mishra	(2001-11-27) 27 November 2001 (age 20)	3	0	Hyderabad
5	2DF	Narender Gahlot	(2001-04-24) 24 April 2001 (age 20)	4	0	Jamshedpur
16	2DF	Ruivah Hormipam	(2001-01-25) 25 January 2001 (age 21)	1	0	Kerala Blasters
20	2DF	Alex Saji	(2000-05-09) 9 May 2000 (age 21)	0	0	Gokulam Kerala
22	2DF	Deepak Tangri	(1999-02-01) 1 February 1999 (age 23)	3	0	ATK Mohun Bagan
6	3MF	Amarjit Kiyam	(2001-01-06) 6 January 2001 (age 21)	3	0	East Bengal
7	3MF	Apuia	(2000-10-17) 17 October 2000 (age 21)	3	0	Mumbai City
8	3MF	Suresh Wangjam (Captain)	(2000-08-07) 7 August 2000 (age 21)	3	0	Bengaluru
10	3MF	Rahul KP	(2000-03-16) 16 March 2000 (age 21)	5	0	Kerala Blasters
14	3MF	Princeton Rebello	(1999-03-05) 5 March 1999 (age 22)	1	0	Goa
15	3MF	Jeakson Thounaojam	(2001-06-21) 21 June 2001 (age 20)	3	0	Kerala Blasters
18	3MF	Komal Thatal	(2000-09-18) 18 September 2000 (age 21)	3	0	Jamshedpur
19	3MF	Bryce Miranda	(1999-09-23) 23 September 1999 (age 22)	2	0	Churchill Brothers
21	3MF	Nikhil Raj	(2001-01-12) 12 January 2001 (age 21)	0	0	Odisha
9	4FW	Rahim Ali	(2000-04-21) 21 April 2000 (age 21)	6	1	Chennaiyin
11	4FW	Aniket Jadhav	(2000-07-13) 13 July 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Hyderabad
12	4FW	Vikram Pratap	(2002-01-16) 16 January 2002 (age 20)	3	1	Mumbai City
17	4FW	Rohit Danu	(2002-07-10) 10 July 2002 (age 19)	2	0	Hyderabad

Past squads[]

Asian Games[]

• 2002 Asian Games
• 2006 Asian Games
• 2010 Asian Games
• 2014 Asian Games

Competitive record[]

Summer Olympics[]

From 1908 to 1988, football at the Olympics was played by senior national teams.^[12] and between these years India national football team competed at all Games from 1948 to 1960.^[12] From 1992, FIFA allowed only U-23 national teams to play the tournament at the Olympics.^[12] Though U-23 players were allowed, the qualifying matches of 1992 Olympics to 2012 Olympics were played by the Senior national team of India but failed to qualify to the Olympics finals from 1992 to 2012. AFC started AFC U-23 Championship from 2013 which is now acted as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics for the Asian countries, where top three teams are allowed entry to Olympic finals.^[13] India is yet to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship and thus also at Olympics since then.

Summer Olympics record										Summer Olympics qualification record
Host/Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
1908−1988	See India national football team									See India national football team
1992	Did not qualify									4	0	1	3	3	7
1996										4	2	0	2	8	7
2000										2	0	1	1	0	2
2004										2	1	0	1	1	2
2008										8	0	3	5	3	13
2012										4	1	2	1	5	6
Since 2016, AFC U-23 Championship acted as the AFC qualifier (top 3 finishers)
2016	Did not qualify									Did not qualify 2016 AFC U-23
2020										Did not qualify 2020 AFC U-23
2024	To be determined									To be determined
Total	0 / 8	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0		24	4	7	13	20	37

AFC U-23 Asian Cup[]

AFC U-23 Asian Cup was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.^[14][15] Till now, three championships held, in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. However, India failed to qualify to any of the championships.^[16]

AFC U-23 Asian Cup (erstwhile AFC U-22 Championship and AFC U-23 Championship) record										AFC U-23 qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
2014	Did not qualify									5	2	1	2	11	10
2016										3	0	1	2	0	6
2018										3	1	0	2	3	4
2020										2	0	0	2	0	5
2022	TBD									3	1	1	1	2	2
Totals	0/4	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0		16	4	3	9	16	27

Asian Games[]

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
Senior National Team
1951 – 1998	See India national football team
Under-23 National Team
2002	Group stage	10th	3	2	0	1	6	3
2006	Group stage	14th	3	1	1	1	3	4
2010	Round of 16	14th	4	1	0	3	5	10
2014	Group stage	26th	2	0	0	2	0	7
2018	Did not participate
Total	4/5	0 Titles	12	4	1	7	14	24

South Asian Games[]

South Asian Games record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
Senior National Team
1984 – 1999	See India national football team
Under-23 National Team
2004	Silver	2nd	5	3	1	1	7	2
2006	Semifinals	4th	5	1	3	1	4	5
2010	Semifinals	4th	5	1	2	2	5	3
2016	Silver	2nd	4	2	0	2	7	5
2019	Did not participate
Total	4/5	0 Titles	19	7	6	6	23	15

Honours[]

• LG Cup
  • Winners (1): 2002^[17]

See also[]

• Football in India
• India national football team
• India women's national football team
• India national under-20 football team
• India national under-17 football team

References[]

External links[]

• All India Football Federation