India national under-20 football team

The India national Under-20 football team, also known as India Under-20s or India U20(s), represents India at all under-20 football tournaments. They act as the main feeder team for the India national under-23 football team and the senior India national football team.

India Under-20

Nickname(s)	Blue Colts
Association	All India Football Federation
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Shanmugam Venkatesh
FIFA code	IND
First colours Second colours
First international
Burma 1–1 India  (Malaya; 19 April 1963)
Biggest win
India 7–0 Nepal    (Bangkok, Thailand; 23 April 1972) (Non-verifiable)  India 6–0 Sri Lanka  (Kannur, India; 13 July 1996)  India 7–1 Bhutan  (Bangalore India; 25 August 1998)  India 6–0 Bangladesh  (Qatar; 16 October 2002)
Biggest defeat
India 0–7 Israel  (Bangkok, Thailand; 16 April 1972)  India 0–7 South Korea  (Qatar; 25 October 2002)  India 0–7 United Arab Emirates  (Qatar; 4 October 2015)
AFC U-20 Asian Cup
Appearances	22 (first in 1963)
Best result	Champions (1974)
South Asian Championship
Appearances	3 (first in 2015)
Best result	Champions (2019)

This team is for Indian players aged under 19 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year AFC U-19 Championship campaign begins, and as such, some players can remain with the squad until the age of 21. As long as they are eligible, players can play for India at any level, making it possible to play for the U19s first, then the senior side, and again back to playing for the U19s. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (provided the player is eligible).

History

As an Asian U19 team, India competes for the Asian Championship, with the finals every even-numbered year, formerly odd-numbered years. There is no Under-19 World Cup, although there is an Under-20 World Cup. This team also participate in the SAFF U-19 Championship which started from 2015 by South Asian Football federation.

1959−1970

For the first four seasons of AFC U-19 Championship, from 1959 to 1962 the Indian team did not enter into the tournament though there was no qualification round. India first participated in the AFC U-19 Championships in 1963 but did not move ahead from the group stage. the first best result came at the 1966 edition where the team entered in the quarter finals with 3 wins against Burma, Japan and Singapore and a defeat by china but in the quarter final they lost to Israel by 4−0. In the next edition at 1967 AFC Youth Championship India again entered in the quarter final. First a draw of 1−1 against Israel and then defeating Malaysia by 4−1 but same as 1966 they again defeated in the quarter final, this time by Indonesia by 2−6. In 1968, the team didn't move beyond group stage, and next two edition of 1969 and 1970 India did not enter in the championships.

1971−1979

In 1971, they again reached the quarter final for the third time in AFC championships, but the fate was same as again saw a defeat, now against Japan by 0−3. But, after a gap of two more edition, it was 1974 AFC Youth Championship, where India seen the golden moment after becoming champions in AFC Under-19 Championships. First in group stage India defeat both Laos and Burma by 1−0 and a draw against Hong Kong by 2−2. Then entering in the quarter final they defeated Singapore by 1(4)−1(1), thus reached semi-finals where defeating Thailand by 2−1, for the first time India reached the final of the Championship. But the final was a draw against Iran by 2−2 thus jointly awarded both the team as the Champions. In 1975 and 1976 edition India didn't do much well but at 1977 AFC Youth Championship they reached the quarter final but the opponent was Iran, the defending Champion who defeated India by 3−0, thus failed to qualify for the first FIFA World Youth Championship in 1977 which later came to be known as FIFA U-20 World Cup and also failed to qualify at the 1979 edition.

1980−2000, the decline

These two decades saw a decline in the performance of the Indian team. Qualification round started from 1980 AFC Youth Championship and India failed to qualify in 6 out of 11 edition of the championships and in rest 5 edition the failed to move beyond the group stage, thus also failed to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup as the finalist were only to be qualified for the competition.

2002−2017 Rise and Fall

In 2002, at the AFC U-19 Championship, India reached the quarter final for the 6th time, by the virtue of third-place qualifiers, but defeated heavily by South Korea, where the Korean found the Indian net 7 times. Next two editions they ended their competition in group stages and next 7 editions from 2008 to 2018, India failed to qualify again for the championships and so for the FIFA U20 Worldcup.

In the meanwhile, SAFF started SAFF U-19 Championship from 2015 to develop the youth teams of South Asian countries as they continuously failing to qualify for AFC U-20 championships. In the 2015 inaugural edition, India became runners-up facing a defeat from Nepal through a penalty shoot out. In the next edition in 2017, the tournament was a round robin, where India saw two wins against Bhutan and Maldives and two defeats from Bangladesh and Nepal, thus achieved the third place in the tournament.

2018−Present

The AIFF finally acted and opened their eyes to bring out the team from its misery and started various plans and programmes to tackle to present a pathetic situation. One of the most important steps is international exposure to the youth and under 17 teams. India's U-20 team was invited to participate in Cotif Tournament where clubs and national and autonomous teams participate every year since 1984, held at Valencia, Spain. 2018 Cotif was 35th Anniversary of the tournament.[1] Though India lost two consecutive matches against Spanish club Murcia then against Mauritania, they managed a draw against a stronger Latin American side of Venezuela, but on the final group match on 5 August 2018, the Indian side written a piece of history when they defeated the most successful U-20 Worldcup winning nation Argentina. The match was historic in many ways, when Indian defender Deepak Tangri headed a corner kick to the net of Argentine side, it was the first goal against them by any Indian side, then with a second goal by Anwar Ali with a fabulous free kick help India to win the match with a score of 2−1 against the stronger Argentine side, made a history as it is the first time that any Indian team defeated any Argentine side and also any American national team.[2][3][4] Argentina national team manager Scaloni and Argentine great Pablo Aimar praised the young colt's performances and said the future of the team is bright if there is continued perseverance.[5] AIFF called it as one of the “biggest days for Indian Football” as team coach said "This victory will definitely earn Indian football more respect in the world of football. It opens up a window of opportunity to test ourselves against the best in the world on a regular basis".[6]

Just after the Cotif experience, AIFF announced the team was invited to play in a four-nation tournament between under-20 national teams of France, Croatia and Slovenia and two friendlies against Serbia.[7] This was the first time India was playing in a 4-nations tournament in which all the opponents are European nations.[8][9] In the first match the team faced a big defeat against a mightier Croatian team by 0−5.[10] The second match was against Slovenia, where they played very well within 90 minutes but failed to convert various chances and on the last minute of injury time the Slovenian side found the net, match ended in 0−1 defeat.[11] Third match was against France, which India lost by 2−0.[12] In the friendlies against Serbia India saw defeat in both the matches, first by 2−0[13] and second by 3−1 where Rahim Ali managed to find the net once.[14]

Current Staff

Name	Position
Shanmugam Venkatesh	Head Coach
Mahesh Gawli	Assistant Coach
Yusuf Ansari	Goalkeeping Coach
Vishnu Nair	Physio

Current squad

As of 5 November 2019

The following 23 players are called for the 2020 AFC U-19 Championship qualification to be held at Saudi Arabia.[15]

Number	Name	DOB	Club	Caps (goals)
Goalkeepers
1	Prabhsukhan Singh Gill	2 January 2001	Kerala Blasters	17 (0)
13	Lalbiakhlua Jongte	23 June 2002	Indian Arrows	1 (0)
21	Niraj Kumar	16 November 2002	Jamshedpur	0 (0)
Defenders
2	Muhammed Rafi	18 May 2001	Bengaluru	6 (0)
3	Jitendra Singh	13 June 2001	Jamshedpur	13 (0)
4	Akash Mishra	27 November 2001	Indian Arrows	10 (2)
5	Narender Gahlot	24 April 2001	Jamshedpur	4 (0)
16	Bikash Yumnam	6 September 2003	Punjab	5 (0)
18	Sumit Rathi	26 August 2001	ATK	8 (1)
19	Thoiba Singh Moirangthem	12 December 2002	Punjab	4 (0)
20	Ruivah Hormipam	25 January 2001	Punjab	1 (0)
Midfielders
7	Ninthoinganba Meetei	13 July 2001	NorthEast United	16 (1)
8	Amarjit Singh Kiyam	6 January 2001	Jamshedpur	4 (1)
10	Givson Singh	5 June 2002	Kerala Blasters	8 (0)
14	Ricky Shabong	29 December 2002	Indian Arrows	7 (1)
15	Jeakson Singh Thounaojam	21 June 2001	Kerala Blasters	15 (0)
17	Ravi Bahadur Rana	15 October 2002	Jamshedpur B	0 (0)
22	Lalrampana Pautu	8 September 2003	SAIL Football Academy	0 (0)
23	Farzan Fayaz	20 March 2002	DFA Anantnag	0 (0)
Forwards
6	Vikram Pratap Singh	16 January 2002	Mumbai City FC	14 (3)
9	Aman Chetri	26 July 2001	Chennaiyin FC	7 (2)
11	Manvir Singh	20 March 2001	Sudeva fc	5 (2)
12	Gurkirat Singh	16 July 2003	Indian Arrows	3 (1)

Past Squads

AFC U-19 Championship squads

• 1974 AFC U-19 Championship squad
• 2002 AFC U-19 Championship squad

Results and fixtures

For past match results of the national team, see the team's results page.

  Win   Draw   Loss

2019

6 November 2019 2020 ACQ	Uzbekistan	2–0	India	Khobar, Saudi Arabia
18:35 IST	Khoshimov  51' Olimjonov  65'	AFC AIFF		Stadium: Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium Attendance: 324 Referee: Shaun Evans (Australia)

8 November 2019 2020 ACQ	India	0−4	Saudi Arabia	Khobar, Saudi Arabia
21:35 IST		AFC AIFF	Marran  2' Al-Ghamdi  10', 18', 28'	Stadium: Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium Attendance: 2,523 Referee: Feras Taweel (Syria)

10 November 2019 2020 ACQ	India	0−3	Afghanistan	Khobar, Saudi Arabia
18:35 IST		AFC AIFF	Ramaki  2' Nawshad  4' Del  29'	Stadium: Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium Attendance: 180 Referee: Feras Taweel (Syria)

Competitive records

FIFA U-20 World Cup

FIFA U-20 World Cup record
Host/Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
FIFA World Youth Championship
1977 to 2005	Did not Qualify
FIFA U-20 World Cup
2007 to 2019	Did not Qualify
Total	0/22	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0

AFC U-19 Championship

AFC U-19 Championship records
Host/Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1959 to 1962	Did not enter
1963	Group Stage	7th	5	2	1	2	6	5
1964	Group Stage	6th	3	0	2	1	1	4
1965	Group Stage	7th	4	1	1	2	3	6
1966	Quarter Final	5th	5	3	0	2	9	7
1967	Quarter Final	7th	3	1	1	1	7	8
1968	Group Stage	11th	3	1	0	2	4	4
1969	Did not enter
1970
1971	Quarter Final	6th	4	2	1	1	5	5
1972	Group Stage	11th	4	1	0	3	5	13
1973	Group Stage	10th	3	0	2	1	1	2
1974	Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	10	6
1975	Group Stage	13th	4	1	1	2	5	6
1976	Group Stage	5th	3	1	1	1	4	3
1977	Quarter Final	5th	3	1	0	2	5	8
1978	Group Stage	6th	4	1	1	2	7	8
1980 to 1985	Did not qualify
1986	Group Stage	6th	3	0	1	2	2	8
1988	Did not enter
1990	Group Stage	6th	3	1	0	2	3	7
1992	Group Stage	8th	3	0	0	3	0	7
1994	Did not enter
1996	Group Stage	8th	4	0	1	3	2	6
1998	Group Stage	10th	4	0	1	3	3	10
2000	Did not qualify
2002	Quarter Final	8th	4	1	0	3	2	14
2004	Group Stage	13th	3	0	0	3	2	5
2006	Group Stage	13th	3	0	1	2	3	7
2008 to 2020	Did not qualify
Total	22/40	1 Title	81	22	16	43	89	149

SAFF U-18 Championship

SAFF U-18 Championship record
Host/Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2015	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	2	0	6	1
2017	Round Robin	3rd	4	2	0	2	8	7
2019	Champions	1st	4	3	1	0	9	1
Total	3/3	1 Title	12	7	3	2	23	9

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

Other honours

• OFC Youth Development Tournament
  • Winner (1): 2019

See also

• India national football team
• India national under-23 football team
• India national under-17 football team

External links

• India U-19 team page at the Official AIFF website

References

1. "The COTIF lives the presentation of its 35th anniversary". Cotifalcudia. 19 July 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
2. "History, Beat Argentina 2-1 In COTIF Cup 2018". inuth. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
3. "India's U-20 football side stuns Argentina 2-1". The Hindu. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
4. "India stun Argentina in U-20 COTIF Cup football tourney". TOI. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
5. "AIMAR, SCALONI GREET INDIA U-20 BOYS, PRAISE THEM". AIFF. 9 August 2018.
6. "10-MAN INDIA SHOCK U-20 ARGENTINA-20 2-1". AIFF. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
7. "INDIA U-19s TO PLAY BACK-TO-BACK FRIENDLIES AGAINST SERBIA". AIFF. 8 September 2018.
8. "India U-20 to face France in four-nation tourney". AIFF. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
9. https://www.the-aiff.com/news-center-details.htm?id=9139
10. "INDIA U-19 GO DOWN TO CROATIA". AIFF. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
11. "INDIA U-19 LOSE BY A SOLITARY GOAL TO SLOVENIA". AIFF. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
12. "INDIA GO DOWN TO U-19 YOUTH TEAM OF WORLD CHAMPIONS FRANCE". the-aiff.com. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
13. "India U-19 football team suffers 0-2 loss against Serbia U-19". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. The Times of india. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
14. "INDIA U-19 SIDE SUFFER 3-1 DEFEAT AT THE HANDS OF SERBIA IN FRIENDLY". the-aiff.com. AIFF. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
15. "TIME TO BUILD ON 'WINNING MOMENTUM', SAYS FLOYD PINTO AHEAD OF CRUCIAL AFC U19 QUALIFIERS". AIFF. 5 November 2019.