The Australia national football team formed in 1911, though it has gone through many changes. The team affiliated to FIFA in 1963. Once a member of the Oceania Football Confederation, Australia moved to Asia in 2006. The men’s team is known as the Socceroos.

The team is no stranger to controversy, in 1960 Australia was suspended from FIFA for stealing foreign players. The football association disbanded and reformed, although it could not re-enter FIFA until all outstanding fines were settled. The Australia national football team created the Oceania Football Confederation with New Zealand in 1966 after the Asian Confederation had refused membership. The team first qualified for a world cup in 1974, but had to wait until 2006 for their next appearance.

World cup history

1974

2006

2010

2014

2018

1974

West Germany

West Germany 1974 saw Australia play at a world cup finals for the first time. The team had previously come one game away from qualification in 1966 and 1970. The team drew Chile, East Germany and West Germany in the first round group stage. The Socceroos lost to both German teams and ended their chances of progression after two matches. The last game saw them gain a first world cup point in a 0-0 draw with Chile. The team did not score during the tournament. Australia would not qualify again for 30 years.

2006

Germany

The 2006 world cup was hosted in Germany, the country of the Socceroos’ previous appearance. Australia won their first world cup game, and scored their first goals, in a 3-1 win over Japan. The second group match saw a 2-0 loss to Brazil and the team’s last match was a 2-2 draw with Croatia. The Croatia game was marred with controversy as referee Graham Poll blew the final whistle as Australia scored what would have been a winning goal. The match also saw a record three yellow cards shown to Croatian Josip Šimunić, the third after the game had ended. Australia finished second in the group and progressed to the next round to face Italy.

The game against Italy was tightly contested, with the score at 0-0 after ninety minutes. Italian Fabio Grosso won a controversial penalty in extra-time, which Totti converted to win the match.

2010

South Africa

Australia vindicated their switch to the Asian Football Confederation by qualifying for the 2010 world cup with two games to spare. At the tournament the Socceroos faced Germany, Ghana and Serbia. The team lost 4-0 to Germany in their opening game, using a formation without a recognised striker. A 1-1 draw with Ghana saw the team struggling to progress from the group. Despite beating Serbia 2-1, Ghana’s superior goal difference saw the Australians eliminated in the first round.

2014

Brazil

The world cup in 2014 was hosted by Brazil. Germany became the first European side to win the tournament on South American soil. After a 3-1 opening game defeat to Chile the side then lost a tight 3-2 match with the Netherlands. The game was memorable for one of the goals of the tournaments scored by Tim Cahill. Both Australia and Spain were already eliminated as they played the final game, which Spain won 3-0.

2018

Russia

The Australia national football team entered world cup qualifying in the second round where they are in Group B alongside Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Bangladesh.

Get Social

Find more teams

Here