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But Indian football has had its share of glory days. India qualified for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil when all of their opponents withdrew from the competition. However India refused to participate in the event as FIFA required all the players to wear football boots whereas the Indian players were used to playing barefoot.
India made its Olympic debut in football at the 1948 London Games, but lost 1-2 to France in the first match. In the 1956 Melbourne Olympics India became the first Asian nation to reach the semifinals of an Olympic football event defeating Australia 4-2 in the quarterfinal. The hallmark of the win was the hat trick by centre forward Neville D'Souza who became the first and until now only Asian to achieve the feat in the Olympics.
Between 1951 and 1962, during the golden era of Indian football, India was a major power in Asia having won the football golds in the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games at New Delhi and Jakarta respectively and the bronze medal in tile 1970 Bangkok Asiad.
In 2002, India won the LG Cup in Vietnam under English coach Stephen Constantine. India have won the South Asian Football Federation Cup 4 times, in 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2005, but the field features the minnows of Asian football.
