India vs Australia: All time head-to-head record

The Blue Tigers once thrashed the Socceroos 7-1 in an international friendly.

The Indian Football Team is scheduled to start their AFC Asian Cup 2023 campaign against Australia on January 13 (Saturday) at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar. 

Both teams are heading into the tournament with different expectations and goals. Australia made it to the pre-quarter final of 2022 FIFA World Cup where they lost 2-1 to eventual winners Argentina. Whereas the Blue Tigers are the underdogs and anything beyond the group stage will be an achievement for the side.

In this article, let’s look at the head-to-head record and performances of these two footballing nations.

Historical Significance

To get ourselves acquainted with the historical significance of this encounter, we need to roll back to the pre-independence era when the Indian Football team managed by Pankaj Gupta was invited to Australia for a five match friendly series. The first game of the series where India lost 5-3 is considered as India’s first FIFA-recognised match. The hosts won the series 3-1 with consecutive wins in the last two games.

The next meeting between the sides in the quarter-final of 1956 Summer Olympics is India’s most memorable match against Australia. The joint top-scorer of the tournament, Neville D’Souza, netted a hat-trick to give the Indian side a historic 4-2 win. It was only a matter of some days when the Blue Tigers thrashed them 7-1 in a friendly and proved that the Olympic victory was not a fluke. 

The consecutive victories in the 1981 King’s Cup and 2011 Asian Cup got Australia better of India on records.

Australia dominate on H2H records

The last time India faced the Socceroos, in the group opener of AFC Asian Cup 2011, Tim Cahill’s brace helped Australia register a 4-0 win. India was still struggling to directly qualify for continental competitions then, the Blues qualified on the virtue of being winners of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup. However, this time Igor Stimac has a competitive squad with a mix of players that have prior Asian Cup experience. The team will be eager to put up a tough fight and look to avenge their previous loss.

On the other hand, the team in yellow will look to kick-off the tournament with a win and build a positive momentum going ahead.

Australia and India have been up against each other on ten occasions. Both sides have looked to overcome each other, but the Socceroos have edged past the Indian side on H2H records. In those ten encounters, Australia got the better of India six times while lost three as well, one game ended in a draw. 

Australia vs India: All 10 meetings

Australia vs India 5-3 (International Friendly) – 03 September 1938

Australia vs India 4-4 (International Friendly) – 10 September 1938

Australia vs India 1-4 (International Friendly) – 17 September 1938

Australia vs India 5-4 (International Friendly) – 24 September 1938

Australia vs India 3-1 (International Friendly) – 01 October 1938

India vs Australia 4-2 (Quarter Final Summer Olympics) – 01 December 1956

Australia vs India 1-7 (International Friendly) – 09 December 1956

India vs Australia 0-1 (King’s Cup) – 14 November 1981

India vs Australia 0-4 (AFC Asian Cup) – 10 January 2011

Australia vs India 2-0 (AFC Asian Cup) – 13 January 2023

Australia vs India: Overall head-to-head record

Games played: 10

India wins: 3

Draws: 1

Australia wins: 6

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