India national under-23 football team

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.

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.

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.

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. 2022 Hangzhou Games At the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, India were placed in Group A with China, Myanmar and the Bangladesh. In the first match China defeated India 1–5. India won their next Match against Bangladesh 1–0 and played out a 1–1 draw with Myanmar. But in the Round of 16 they lost against Saudi Arabia 0–2.

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. India were placed in Group A with Afghanistan, Maldives, and Nepal. In their first match against Afghanistan, India won 1–0 through Jeje Lalpekhlua. In their next match against Nepal, a Sushil Kumar Singh goal was the difference as India won again 1–0. 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. 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.

Results and fixtures Matches in the last 12 months, and future scheduled matches Legend

2025

2026

Coaching staff The current coaching staff of the team are: Position Name Head coach Naushad Moosa Assistant coach Noel Wilson Goalkeeping coach Gumpe Rime

Players The following 24 players were called up for the 2026 Tri-Nation Series in March 2026.

Caps and goals are correct as of 31 March 2026, after the match against Tajikistan.

Recent callups The following footballers were part of national selection in the past twelve months, but are not part of the current call-up.

INJ Player injuries PRE Preliminary squad / standby OTH Player withdrew from squad due to non-injury issue

Past squads Asian Games 2002 Asian Games 2006 Asian Games 2010 Asian Games 2014 Asian Games 2022 Asian Games

Competitive record Summer Olympics

From 1908 to 1988, football at the Olympics was played by senior national teams. and between these years India national football team competed at all Games from 1948 to 1960. From 1992, FIFA allowed only U-23 national teams to play the tournament at the Olympics. 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. India is yet to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship and thus also at Olympics since then.

Summer Olympics recordSummer Olympics qualification recordHost/YearResultPosition1908−1988See India national football teamSee India national football team 1992Did not qualify401337 1996420287 2000201102 2004210112 20088035313 2012412156Since 2016, AFC U-23 Championship acted as the AFC qualifier (top 3 finishers) 2016Did not qualifyDid not qualify 2016 AFC U-23 2020Did not qualify 2020 AFC U-23 2024Did not qualify 2024 AFC U-23 2028To be determinedTo 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. Till now, six championships held, in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. However, India failed to qualify to any of the championships. AFC U-23 Asian Cup recordAFC U-23 qualification recordYearResultPosition 2014Did not qualify5 2 1 2 1110 20163 0 1 2 0 6 2018310234 2020200205 2022311122 2024200215 2026320192 2028To be determinedTo be determined Total 0/8 0 Titles 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 6 3 12 26 34

Asian Games

From 1951 to 1998 India competed in eleven Asian Games except the 1990 and the 1994 editions, and was competed by the senior national team. As the turn of the century, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) changed the rules of participation of players in the Asian Games. Since the Football at the 2002 Asian Games, the age of the players is limited to 23 years while three over–aged players are allowed among each squad, similar to the rules for participation at the Summer Olympics. Though the senior team won the 1951 and the 1962 gold medal, and a bronze at the 1970 Asian Games but the India U-23 team has yet to win a medal at the Asian Games football tournament.

Asian Games recordHost/YearResultPositionSquad1951 – 1998See India national football team 2002Group stage10th of 24320163Squad 2006Group stage14th of 28311134Squad 2010Round of 1614th of 284103510Squad 2014Group stage26th of 32200207Squad 2018Indian Olympic Association did not allow team's participation 2022Round of 169th of 21411238Squad 2026Did not participateTotal 5/6 0 Titles 16 5 2 9 17 32 — —

SAFF Championship First time an Indian under-23 team participated in any championship organised by SAFF was in 2009. For the 2009 SAFF Championship, AIFF decided to send the under-23 team instead of the senior national team. Despite the underage team, India won the championship after beating the Maldives in the final.

In January 2025, SAFF announced the inaugural U-23 Championship, which will begin in 2026. SAFF Championship record (Senior & Under-23)Host/YearResultPositionSquadIn the senior championship 2009Champions1st540132SquadIn the under-23 championship 2026To be determinedSquadTotal 1 1 Title 5 4 0 1 3 2 —

South Asian Games

South Asian Games recordYearResultPosition1984–1999See India national football team 2004Played by India national under-20 football team 2006 2010 2016Runners–up2nd420275 2019Did not participate 2027To be determinedTotal 1 Edition 0 Title 4 2 0 2 7 5 —

Overall competitive records (excluding friendlies & minor tournaments) CompetitionPldWDLGFGAGDWin%Summer OlympicsAsian GamesSouth Asian GamesAFC Olympic qualifiersAFC U-23 Asian CupAFC U-23 Asian Cup QualificationSAFF U-23 ChampionshipTotal

Head-to-head record (excluding friendlies & minor tournaments) The following table shows India's head-to-head record in the official tournaments of Asian Games, South Asian Games, AFC U-23 Asian Cup (including qualifiers) and SAFF U-23 Championship.

Opponent Win % Total

Honours LG Cup Winners (1): 2002 SAFF Championship Winners (1): 2009 South Asian Games Silver medal (1): 2016

India national under-23 football team

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