IndianArmy
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India qualified by default for the 1950 FIFA World Cup finals as a result of the withdrawal of all of their scheduled opponents. However, they did not take up their place in the competition. The Indian players were unable to play as boots were required according to FIFA legislation, and the Indian players were not used to footwear and thus refused.The Indian football team was known to play barefoot during the period. In fact, Mohammed Abdul Salim one of the Indian football players played for Celtic F.C. barefoot. The team has never since come close to qualifying for the World Cup. In the FIFA world cup 2010 qualifiers, India was eliminated in the first round by Lebanon.
India finished 4th in the football tournament at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.Later they qualified for 1960 Rome Olympics but failed to make any impact after losing to Peru and Hungary but managed an consolation 1-1 draw against France. Since then India have never been able to qualify for the Olympics.
Indian football entered something of a golden age in 1951, a run that stretched until the 1960s. India won the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games Gold medal and reached the semi-finals in the next two Asian Games. The Indian team also set a new record in 1956 with their semi-final as it represented, at the time, the best performance by an Asian team in an Olympic football tournament. The record stood until the 1968 tournament when Japan also reached the semi-finals before capturing the bronze medal that had eluded the Indian team.
More recent successes have been limited to the South Asian Football Federation Cup, the LG Cup won in Vietnam in 2002 under English coach Stephen Constantine, Nehru Cup in 2007 and 2009 and the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup under coach Bob Houghton, which earned them a place in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup to be held in Qatar.
Rivalry
India's traditional arch rivals are Pakistan national football team, due to the historic tension between the two nations, and even though India has consistently beaten Pakistan, they are often hard-fought matches. Another regional rival is Maldives national football team, who have had many well-balanced, thrilling matches with each other, and this rivalry is often seen as more competitive than the rivalry shared with Pakistan.
Kit
Nike, Inc is the kit provider to the national team, with Panasonic as sponsoring partner.
Current squad
Goalkeepers
1 GK Subrata Pal
24 GK Subhasish Roy Chowdhary
19 GK Arindam Bhattacharya
Defenders
5 DF Anwar Ali
12 DF Deepak Kumar Mondal
14 DF Mahesh Gawli
17 DF Irungbam Surkumar Singh
DF Nallappan Mohanraj
19 DF Gouramangi Singh
20 DF Samir Subash Naik
DF Moirangthem Govin Singh
41 DF Rakesh Masih
Midfielders
7 MF Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep
8 MF P. Renedy Singh
23 MF Steven Dias
27 MF Mehrajuddin Wadoo
28 MF Anthony Pereira
16 MF Clifford Miranda
30 MF Climax Lawrence
22 MF Syed Rahim Nabi
25 MF James Lukram Singh
MF Jagpreet Singh
MF Baldeep Singh J
Strikers
11 FW Sunil Chhetri
15 FW Baichung Bhutia
18 FW M. Mohammed Rafi
21 FW Abhishek Yadav
FW Sushil Kumar Singh
FW Baljit Sahni
