India national under-23 football team

The under-23 side participated in their first ever tournament during the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. They were put into a group with China, Turkmenistan, and Bangladesh. Their first match was against Bangladesh. India won 3–0 through a brace from future senior captain Baichung Bhutia and a strike from Renedy Singh. India played their second match two days later against Turkmenistan. They won 3–1. Bhutia again scored a brace while Abhishek Yadav scored the third goal as India ran out 3–1 winners. Unfortunately, in their final match against China, India could not find the net as they fell 2–0 and thus were knocked-out of the Asian Games.[1]

During the 2006 Asian Games India were placed in a group with Iran, Hong Kong, and Maldives. In their first match against Hong Kong, India drew 1–1 with Pappachen Pradeep scoring the lone Indian goal. In their second match, India faced off against Maldives and won 2–1. Irungbam Surkumar Singh and Subhas Sumbhu Chakrobarty were the scorers for India that night. Finally, in their last match against Iran, India once again lost 2–0 and thus were once again knocked-out of the Asian Games.[2]

During the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, India were placed in a group with Qatar, Kuwait Athletes, and Singapore. India lost their first match against the Kuwait Athletes 2–0 and then lost their second match against Qatar 2–1 with the lone India goal coming from Dharmaraj Ravanan. India went on to win their final match of the group stage against Singapore 4–1. Four players scored each goal, Jewel Raja, Balwant Singh, Jibon Singh, and Manish Maithani. The victory managed to help India finish in third-place which then helped India become the best third-place team out of all the other third-placed teams and thus qualified them for the Round of 16.

In the Round of 16, India took on powerhouse Japan at the Huangpu Sports Center. India went on to lose the match 5–0 with Kensuke Nagai scoring a brace and Ryohei Yamazaki, Kazuya Yamamura, and Kota Mizunuma scoring a goal each.[3]

For the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, India were placed in Group G with Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. In their first match against the United Arab Emirates, India went down 5–0. Seven days later, India were defeated by Jordan 2–0 to end their Asian Games participation.[4]

Before the 2009 SAFF Championship in Bangladesh, it was announced that India would send the under-23 side to the tournament.[5] India were placed in Group A with Afghanistan, Maldives, and Nepal. In their first match against Afghanistan, India won 1–0 through Jeje Lalpekhlua.[6] In their next match against Nepal, a Sushil Kumar Singh goal was the difference as India won again 1–0.[7] Despite losing the last match of the group stage to Maldives 2–0 India were still through to the semi-finals.

India defeated Bangladesh in the semi-finals 1–0 through Sushil Kumar Singh.[8] Finally, in the final against Maldives, India won through penalties 3–1 after finishing extra-time with the score at 0–0 to win the championship.[9]

The following 23 players were called up in 2020

Caps and goals are updated as of 20 December 2020.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem	(2000-07-04) 4 July 2000	0	0	ATK
	1GK	Prabhsukhan Singh Gill	(2001-01-02) 2 January 2001	0	0	Kerala Blasters
	1GK	Mohammad Nawaz	(2000-01-21) 21 January 2000	0	0	Goa
	2DF	Narender Gahlot	(2001-04-24) 24 April 2001	0	0	Jamshedpur
	2DF	Sarthak Golui	(1997-11-03) 3 November 1997	2	0	Mumbai City
	2DF	Gaurav Bora	(1998-07-13) 13 July 1998	0	0	Odisha
	2DF	Mehtab Singh	(1998-06-05) 5 June 1998	0	0	East Bengal
	2DF	Anwar Ali	(2000-07-28) 28 July 2000	0	0	Mumbai City
	2DF	Ashish Rai	(1999-02-02) 2 February 1999	0	0	Indian Arrows
	2DF	Nishu Kumar	(1997-11-05) 5 November 1997	4	0	Kerala Blasters
	3MF	Vinit Rai	(1997-10-10) 10 October 1997	7	0	Odisha
	3MF	Amarjit Singh Kiyam	(2001-01-06) 6 January 2001	0	0	Jamshedpur
	3MF	Anirudh Thapa	(1998-01-15) 15 January 1998	5	0	Chennaiyin
	3MF	Komal Thatal	(2000-09-18) 18 September 2000	0	0	ATK
	3MF	Rahul KP	(2000-03-16) 16 March 2000	0	0	Kerala Blasters
	4FW	Liston Colaco	(1998-11-12) 12 November 1998	0	0	Hyderabad
	4FW	Daniel Lalhlimpuia	(1997-09-12) 12 September 1997	4	0	Odisha
	4FW	Rohit Danu	(2002-07-10) 10 July 2002	0	0	Indian Arrows
	4FW	Aniket Bharti	(2003-05-10) 10 May 2003	0	0	Znicz Pruszkow

• 2002 Asian Games
• 2006 Asian Games
• 2010 Asian Games
• 2014 Asian Games

From 1908 to 1988, football at the Olympics was played by senior national teams.[10] and between these years India national football team competed at all Games from 1948 to 1960.[10] From 1992, FIFA allowed only U-23 national teams to play the tournament at the Olympics.[10] Though U-23 players were allowed, the qualifying matches of 1992 Olympics to 2012 Olympics were played by the Senior national team of India but failed to qualify to the Olympics finals from 1992 to 2012. AFC started AFC U-23 Championship from 2013 which is now acted as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics for the Asian countries, where top three teams are allowed entry to Olympic finals.[11] India is yet to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship and thus also at Olympics since then.

Summer Olympics record										Summer Olympics qualification record
Host/Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
1908−1988	See India national football team									See India national football team
1992	Did not qualify									4	0	1	3	3	7
1996										4	2	0	2	8	7
2000										2	0	1	1	0	2
2004										2	1	0	1	1	2
2008										8	0	3	5	3	13
2012										4	1	2	1	5	6
Since 2016, AFC U-23 Championship acted as the AFC qualifier (top 3 finishers)
2016	Did not qualify									Did not qualify 2016 AFC U-23
2020										Did not qualify 2020 AFC U-23
2024	To be determined									To be determined
Total	0 / 8	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0		24	4	7	13	20	37

AFC U-23 Championship was initially set to be held as AFC U-22 Championships in 2013 and its qualification matches in 2012, but the finals tournament was postponed to be played in January 2014.[12][13] Till now, three championships held, in 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020. However, India failed to qualify to any of the championships.[14]

AFC U-23 Championship record										AFC U-23 qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA
2014	Did not qualify									5	2	1	2	11	10
2016										3	0	1	2	0	6
2018										3	1	0	2	3	4
2020										2	0	0	2	0	5
Totals	0/4	0 Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	3	2	6	13	25