India has failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2022.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar, and despite India’s recent success in the Asian Cup, the country has failed to qualify for the 2022 tournament. India was unable to qualify due to poor performances at previous tournaments, but it wasn’t until 2020 that they were knocked out of contention entirely. The national team hasn’t been able to win a single match since 2015, and many are now wondering if this failure is a sign of things to come.

How did India get here?

India qualified for their first ever World Cup in 1950 when they were invited by FIFA. They finished third place in their group behind Sweden and Spain, which remains their best result at a World Cup. However, the country didn’t participate again until 1986 where they lost all three matches by a combined score of 15-0. They have participated every four years since then except for 1994 when they failed to qualify.

Why did India fail?

Failure of National Teams

In 2019, India failed to make it out of their group at the Asian Cup with losses against Thailand and Bahrain as well as a draw against Palestine. In 2021, after losing 2-1 against Iran in Tehran on June 16th with goals from Mohammed Ghadiri and Sardar Azmoun, India drew 0-0 against Iraq on June 20th with goals from Alaa Abdul Zahra and Baghdad Bounedjah before losing 2-1 on June 24th against Yemen with goals from Abdulwahab Alwadiya and Mohammed Salem Alhashimi.