HussainU
12-02-2007, 14:05
The India national football team is the national football team of India and is controlled by the All India Football Federation. It is a member of the AFC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Football_Confederation).
India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. However, they did not take up their place in the competition because FIFA demanded all players at the World Cup finals should wear football boots. A number of the Indian players refused to abide by this rule and the team was forced to withdraw; the team has never since come close to qualifying for the World Cup.
India also finished 4th in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and won the 1962 Asian Games Gold medal, and reached the semi-finals in the next two Asian Games tournaments in what became known as the golden era of Indian football.
More recent successes have been limited to the South Asian Football Federation Cup, and the LG Cup won in Vietnam in 2002 under English coach StepIndias National Football Teamhen Constantine.
The Indian team is currently being coached by the well-travelled Englishman Bob Houghton, who was appointed in June 2006. He has plied his trade for around 30 years in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe with unprecedented success.
Despite lack of international success and high profile players (current captain Baichung Bhutia is the only contemporary Indian to have played professional football, for Bury in the English Football League), the sport is widely followed in several parts of the country, especially Goa, West Bengal and Kerala. Television coverage of matches in the national league has recently started, and the AIFF undertook a 7-year sponsorship deal with Nike in February 2006.
India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. However, they did not take up their place in the competition because FIFA demanded all players at the World Cup finals should wear football boots. A number of the Indian players refused to abide by this rule and the team was forced to withdraw; the team has never since come close to qualifying for the World Cup.
India also finished 4th in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and won the 1962 Asian Games Gold medal, and reached the semi-finals in the next two Asian Games tournaments in what became known as the golden era of Indian football.
More recent successes have been limited to the South Asian Football Federation Cup, and the LG Cup won in Vietnam in 2002 under English coach StepIndias National Football Teamhen Constantine.
The Indian team is currently being coached by the well-travelled Englishman Bob Houghton, who was appointed in June 2006. He has plied his trade for around 30 years in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Europe with unprecedented success.
Despite lack of international success and high profile players (current captain Baichung Bhutia is the only contemporary Indian to have played professional football, for Bury in the English Football League), the sport is widely followed in several parts of the country, especially Goa, West Bengal and Kerala. Television coverage of matches in the national league has recently started, and the AIFF undertook a 7-year sponsorship deal with Nike in February 2006.