Australian National Football Team / World Championships

Commonwealth of Australia
Commonwealth of Australia

World Cup record goalscorer:	Tim Cahill (5)
World Cup record players:	Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill (9 each)
Rank :	49
Balance sheet
16 World Cup games 2 wins 4 draws 10 losses 13:31 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Australia 0: 2 DDR Hamburg ( FRG ); June 14, 1974
Biggest World Cup win Australia 3: 1 Japan Kaiserslautern ( DEU ); June 12, 2006
Biggest World Cup defeat Australia 0: 4 Germany Durban ( ZAF ); June 13, 2010
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1974 )
Best results	Round of 16, 2006
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 26, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Australian national soccer team at soccer world championships . Australia took part in the World Cup finals five times, in 1974 and 2006 as a member of the Oceanic Football Association and since 2010 as a member of the Asian Football Association.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	not participated
1938	France	not participated
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not participated
1966	England	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to North Korea .
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of Israel failed, which could qualify for 1970 so far only time for a World Cup.
1974	Germany	Preliminary round	GDR , FR Germany , Chile	14th	Rale Rašić	Eliminated as last group.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round on Iran have failed.
1982	Spain	not qualified				New Zealand failed in the first round of qualification .
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification in the intercontinental playoff against Scotland failed.
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the 2nd round, Israel failed, which could not qualify either.
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification in the intercontinental playoff against Argentina failed.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualifying play-offs against the Asia-Fourth on Iran have failed.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification in the play-offs against the South American fifth to Uruguay failed.
2006	Germany	Round of 16	Italy	16.	Guus Hiddink	Australia were eliminated with a penalty converted in the fifth minute of added time. This is the latest penalty ever awarded in a World Cup match in regular time.
2010	South Africa	Preliminary round	Germany , Ghana , Serbia	21st	Pim Verbeek	Australia took part in the qualification as a member of the Asian Association for the first time and was able to qualify as one of four teams there straight away. Since New Zealand was also able to qualify again for the first time since 1982, two oceanic states took part in a World Cup for the first time. Both were eliminated as third in the group in the preliminary round. After their opening defeat against Germany, Australia managed a draw against Ghana and a win against Serbia. Due to the worse goal difference, it was only enough to third place behind Ghana.
2014	Brazil	Preliminary round	Chile , Netherlands , Spain	30th	Ange Postecoglou	Australia qualified as the second team for the World Cup on June 18th in the 4th qualifying round . In the finals, Australia first met Chile and the Netherlands and lost both games, which meant that the team could no longer reach the knockout round and the first encounter with Spain (0: 3) no longer had any influence.
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	France , Denmark , Peru	28.	Bert van Marwijk	Eliminated as bottom group with 2 defeats and one draw
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• No participation: 7 × (33%; 1930, 1934, 1938, 1950, 1954, 1958 and 1962)
• Unqualified: 9 × (43%; 1966, 1970, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002)
• Athletic qualification: 5 × (24% or 36% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 4 × (19%; 1974, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
  • Round of 16: 1 × (5%; 2006)

World Cup tournaments

1930 to 1962

Australia, which had already played its first international matches between 1922 and 1924, did not take part in the first World Cup. Internationals were then played again from 1933, mainly against New Zealand , India and the South African Union , but up to and including 1962 Australia waived any further participation.

1966 in England

For the World Cup in the "motherland of football" Australia was the first time qualify . 21 teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania had applied, of which Israel and Syria were assigned to the European qualifiers and South Africa was suspended due to the apartheid policy. The European dominated FIFA only gave the remaining teams one place in the finals, so all 15 African teams and South Korea withdrew. Ultimately, Australia and North Korea remained , who played off one place in two games in Phnom Penh . Australia lost their first World Cup qualifier 6-1 on November 21, 1965 and the second leg three days later 3-1, which meant that North Korea qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time and eliminated ex-world champions Italy in England .

1970 in Mexico

For the first World Cup in Central America, in addition to Australia, New Zealand from Oceania also reported for the first time. Together with Israel, Japan , North and South Korea, they met in two groups of qualification . Australia beat Japan and South Korea, and Israel beat New Zealand after North Korea was disqualified for refusing to play in Israel. Australia then lost 1-0 to Israel in Ramat Gan and only scored 1-1 in the second leg in Sydney . This was the only time Israel had qualified for the World Cup finals.

1974 in Germany

Scene from the first World Cup game against the GDR

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Germany, Australia met Iraq , Indonesia and New Zealand in the first round and prevailed as group winners. Then there were two games against Iran , the winner of the parallel group. Australia won the first leg in Sydney 3-0, so that a 2-0 defeat in Tehran could be absorbed. Most recently there were playoffs against South Korea. The first leg in Sydney ended without goals, in the second leg in Seoul it was 2-2. Since the away goals rule did not apply, a third game had to be played on a neutral pitch, which Australia won 1-0 in Hong Kong and thus qualified for the first time for the World Cup, while England , the "motherland of football", failed in qualifying. The English newspaper Daily Mail commented on this with the sentence "Australia at the World Cup? It's like a kangaroo running in a derby."

In Germany, Australia met the GDR in their first World Cup game , which had also qualified for the first time, and lost 2-0. The realized Colin Curran , the first Australian a World Cup goal but it was an own goal. In the second game, the team met the host Federal Republic of Germany and lost 3-0. In the last game against Chile , the first World Cup point was won with a goalless draw. Australia said goodbye to the World Cup for 32 years.

1978 in Argentina

For the fourth World Cup in South America , Australia first had to play against New Zealand and the Republic of China in qualifying and prevailed as group winners. In the second round Iran, South Korea, Kuwait and Hong Kong were the opponents and Australia only finished penultimate in front of the pointless team from Hong Kong.

1982 in Spain

For the qualification for the World Cup on the Iberian Peninsula , for which the teams from Asia and Oceania were granted two places for the first time, Australia had to face New Zealand, Indonesia , the Republic of China and Fiji in the first round and only finished second behind New Zealand. Australia even lost 2-0 to bottom group Fiji and only managed to beat Fiji 3-3 at home. New Zealand, however, managed to qualify for the first time in the following rounds, so that after 1974 an oceanic team took part in the World Cup again.

1986 in Mexico

For political reasons, Australia and New Zealand were put into a group with Israel and the Republic of China to qualify for the second World Cup in Mexico . The winner then had to compete against a runner-up in a European group of four. Australia prevailed as group winners with four wins and two draws and then met Scotland for the first time . The first leg in Glasgow was lost 2-0, the goalless draw in Melbourne's second leg could not make up for this.

1990 in Italy

To qualify for the second World Cup in Italy , the Australians first had to play in a pre-qualification against Fiji. The first game in Nadi was lost 0-1, but a 5-1 at Speers Point made it into the group stage. In this, Australia finished behind Israel, which had to play against the oceanic teams for the last time, and only second in front of New Zealand . But Israel was unable to prevail against Colombia in the intercontinental playoffs .

1994 in the United States

To qualify for the World Cup in the USA , the Australians were drawn into a group with Tahiti , the Solomon Islands and Western Samoa , but they waived. Australia prevailed with four wins and then met New Zealand in the Oceania final. With two wins (1: 0 and 3: 0) this hurdle was overcome. After that, however, the intercontinental qualification was due. First Canada waited and Australia lost the first leg in Edmonton 2-1. After it was 2-1 for Australia in the second leg after extra time, there was a penalty shoot-out , which was won 4-1. The last hurdle, Vice World Champion Argentina , was too high. With a 1-1 draw in Sydney and a 1-0 draw in Buenos Aires , Australia pulled out of the affair respectably.

1998 in France

The qualification for the second World Cup in France was similar. In the group stage, Australia prevailed with four wins against the Solomon Islands and Tahiti, knocked out New Zealand with two wins in the ocean finals and then met Iran in the play-offs . After a 1: 1 in Tehran in front of 128,000 spectators, the highest number of spectators ever to a game with Australia, a 2: 2 was not enough to qualify for the World Cup due to the away goals rule . Australia, for example, retired from qualifying without losing a game.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

Under the motto "The same procedure as every year" which was qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia . Again Australia prevailed sovereignly against the teams of the Pacific islands American Samoa , Fiji , Samoa and Tonga and scored 66 goals in four games in the tournament held in Coffs Harbor without conceding a goal. The 31-0 win against American Samoa was the highest ever win in an international match . Archie Thompson alone set several records with his 13 goals. As in the two previous qualifications, New Zealand was defeated in two games, but Australia again lost out in the play-offs against South American fifth-placed Uruguay . The first leg in Melbourne in front of 84,656 spectators was won 1-0. Uruguay won the second leg in Montevideo 3-0.

2006 in Germany

Australian fans at the 2006 World Cup

2006 World Cup preliminary round against Brazil

For the second World Cup in Germany , Australia was finally able to qualify again . After the Pacific Islands had determined four participants in the second round, where they met Australia and New Zealand, in the qualifying tournament in Adelaide, which was also held as the 2004 OFC Nations Cup , Australia won four against Fiji, New Zealand and Tahiti and Vanuatu as well as a draw against the Solomon Islands. After two more games against the Solomon Islands, which were won 7-0 and 2-1, Uruguay was the opponent again. The first leg in Montevideo was lost 0-1 and the second leg was 1-0 for Australia after 90 minutes. Since no further goal was scored in the extra time required, there was a penalty shoot-out , which Australia won 4-2.

At the World Cup finals in Germany, Australia met Japan in their first game and won a World Cup game 3-1 for the first time. It looked like a defeat for a long time after the Japanese took the lead in the 24th minute. In the 84th minute, Tim Cahill scored the first World Cup goal for Australia and five minutes later he made it 2-1. John Aloisi then managed to make it 3-1 in stoppage time. The second game against defending champions Brazil was lost 2-0, but the final 2-2 win against Croatia was enough to move into second in the group. Australia also fell behind against the Croatians, but was able to equalize twice and thus become the first oceanic team to survive the preliminary round. In the last sixteen Australia met eventual world champions Italy . The Italians , who only played 10 players from the 51st minute - Marco Materazzi had received the red card - were 0-0 against the stormy attacking Australians until stoppage time. Then Fabio Grosso fell in stoppage time in the Australian penalty area over Lucas Neill , who was lying on the ground, and to everyone's surprise the referee gave Italy a penalty. Francesco Totti , who only came on as a substitute in the 75th minute, turned it into the winning goal for Italy. It is the latest decisive penalty ever awarded in a World Cup match in regular time.

Even before the World Cup, Australia had left the Oceanic Football Association , which is still only granted half a place in the World Cup finals, and joined the Asian association , which has been entitled to at least four final rounds since the 2006 World Cup.

2010 in South Africa

The qualification for the first World Cup in Africa was the first in which Australia was able to qualify for the first time without the detour via intercontinental play-off games. Since Australia was at the top of the Asian rankings, the team did not have to intervene until the third round and met Qatar , Iraq and China . With a 3-1 win on the penultimate match day in Doha against their direct rivals Qatar for group victory, the Australians secured group victory. The final 0: 1 in the home game against China was only a blemish. In the fourth round, the Australians then met Japan, Bahrain , again Qatar and Uzbekistan . With six wins and two draws Australia prevailed sovereignly and qualified directly for the World Cup.

In South Africa, Australia met Germany in their first game and lost 4-0. In the second game a 1-1 draw against Ghana was fought. The final 2: 1 against Serbia was not enough to reach the round of 16, because the Ghanaians, who also won against Serbia but only lost 1: 1 against Germany, had the better goal difference. Coach Pim Verbeek was sacked after the early retirement.

2014 in Brazil

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Brazil , Australia did not have to enter again until the third round and together with Oman prevailed against Saudi Arabia and Thailand . In the fourth round Japan , Jordan , Iraq and again Oman were the opponents. Australia finished second behind Japan and qualified as the third team for the World Cup after Japan and hosts Brazil. Australia went into the qualification with the German coach Holger Osieck , but after the successful qualification two friendlies against Brazil and France were lost 6-0 each, Osieck was dismissed. Ange Postecoglou was his successor .

In Brazil, Australia was drawn into a group with the two finalists from the previous World Cup, Spain and the Netherlands , and Chile . The first game against Chile was lost 3-1. The second game against the Netherlands was even for a long time, but in the end the Dutch were the happier team with a 3-2 draw. The last game against Spain was then in principle meaningless, as both teams were already eliminated. With 0: 3 this was also lost, so that Australia had to travel home for the first time without winning a point.

2018 in Russia

In order to for the first World Cup in Eastern Europe qualify required the Australians most qualifying matches of all the teams and shot while most qualifying goals. The team first met Bangladesh , Jordan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the second round . The Australians, who qualified as the new Asian champions, were able to win the first three games, but then lost in Jordan. Since the rest of the games were won, Australia reached the third round as group winners. Here Japan , Saudi Arabia , the United Arab Emirates , Iraq and Thailand were the opponents. At the end of the round, the Australians were in third place and had to play against Syria, the third in the other group for the chance to compete against fourth in the CONCACAF qualification. This duel was decided by Australia with a 1-1 and 2-1 nV, with record goal scorer Tim Cahill scored both goals, the second was also his 50th international goal. In the final playoff against Honduras, Australia secured a 0-0 and 3-1 participation in the 2018 World Cup, with Mile Jedinak giving the Australians the lead with a flawless hat trick in the second half and the Hondurans the consolation goal only in the Added time succeeded. Despite the successful qualification, coach Postecoglou resigned from his position. His successor Bert van Marwijk was only to remain national coach up to and including the World Cup.

In the finals, they lost their first game against France 2-1, which was kept 1-1 for a long time and the French's winning goal came from a shot by Paul Pogba , which Aziz Behich deflected into his own goal as an unsustainable own goal for his goalkeeper. In the second game against Denmark they scored 1-1, with the goal of equalizing 1-1 with a penalty converted by captain Mile Jedinak , as in the first game . In the last game against Peruvians who had no chance, they needed a win while the Danes lost against France to get into the knockout round. The Danes and French parted goalless - the only goalless game in the finals - and Australia lost 2-0 to Peru. With that, Australia dropped out and fell three places in the all-time ranking.

player

Ranking of the Australian World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Mark Bresciano and Tim Cahill - 9 games in 3 and 4 tournaments respectively

03. Scott Chipperfield , Jason Culina , Mile Jedinak , Lucas Neill - 7 games in 2 or 3 (Jedinak) tournaments

07. Brett Emerton , Mathew Leckie , Craig Moore , Mathew Ryan , Mark Schwarzer - 6 games in 2 tournaments

12. Vince Grella , Luke Wilkshire - 5 games in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Australian World Cup players with the most goals

01. Tim Cahill - 5 goals

02. Brett Holman , Mile Jedinak - 2 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1974: Peter Wilson
• 2006: Mark Viduka
• 2010: Lucas Neill
• 2014, 2018: Mile Jedinak

Players banned from World Championships

• 1974: Ray Richards received the red card in the last group game against Chile , because of the elimination it had no further effect on the tournament.
• 2006: Brett Emerton received in the match against Croatia, the first a second yellow card and then also the second yellow card and was suspended for the first knockout round against Italy. The second yellow cards for Tim Cahill and Vince Grella in the game against Italy, however, had no further effect, since Australia were eliminated.
• 2010: Tim Cahill received the red card in the first game against BR Germany and was suspended for the second game against Ghana. in this Harry Kewell also received the red card, so that he, like Craig Moore , who had received the second yellow card, was suspended for the last game against Serbia.
• 2014: Tim Cahill was banned from his third game against Spain after receiving his second yellow card in the game against the Netherlands . The second yellow card Mile Jedinak received in the game against Spain had no further effect as both were eliminated.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

When it first took part, Australia did not use any legionnaires , in the following participations it was mostly players playing abroad, but some of them played for second- and third-rate clubs.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1974 (3)	0
2006 (4)	20 (1 in Germany, 11 in England, 2 in Italy, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Sweden, 2 in Switzerland and 1 in Spain)	Joshua Kennedy (4); Tim Cahill (4), Brett Emerton (3), Harry Kewell (3), Stan Lazaridis (0), Craig Moore (4), Lucas Neill (4), Tony Popovic (1), Mark Schwarzer (3), Josip Skoko (0), Mark Viduka (4), Luke Wilkshire (2); Zeljko Kalac (1), Vince Grella (4); Jason Culina (4), Archie Thompson (0); Ante Covic (0); Scott Chipperfield (4), Mile Sterjovski (3); John Aloisi (4)
2010 (3)	20 (1 in Germany, 6 in England, 2 in Italy, 2 in Japan, 3 in the Netherlands, 1 in Russia, 1 in Switzerland, 3 in Turkey and 1 in the United Arab Emirates)	Dario Vidosic (0); Adam Federici (0), Tim Cahill (2), Brett Emerton (3), Richard Garcia (2), Vince Grella (1), Mark Schwarzer (3); Mark Bresciano (2), Carl Valeri (3); Joshua Kennedy (2), Mark Milligan (0); David Carney (2), Brett Holman (3), Nikita Rukavytsya (2); Luke Wilkshire (3); Scott Chipperfield (3); Mile Jedinak (3), Harry Kewell (1), Lucas Neill (3); Michael Beauchamp (1)
2014 (3)	16 (1 in Belgium, 1 in China, 3 in Germany, 3 in England, 1 in Qatar, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Austria, 2 in Switzerland, 1 in South Korea, 1 in the USA)	Mathew Ryan (3); Ryan McGowan (3); Ben Halloran (3), Mitch Langerak (0), Mathew Leckie (3); Mile Jedinak (3), Massimo Luongo (0), Bailey Wright (0); Mark Bresciano (3); Jason Davidson (3), Tommy Oar (3); James Holland (0); Oliver Bozanic (2), Dario Vidošić (0); Alex Wilkinson (3); Tim Cahill (2)
2018 (3)	20 (1 in Belgium, 2 in Germany, 7 in England, 2 in Japan, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Saudi Arabia, 2 in Scotland, 2 in Switzerland, 1 in South Korea, 1 in Turkey)	Danny Vukovic ; Robbie Kruse (3), Mathew Leckie (3); Tim Cahill (1), Jackson Irvine (2), Mile Jedinak (3), Massimo Luongo, James Meredith , Aaron Mooy (3), Mathew Ryan (3); Miloš Degenek , Andrew Nabbout (2); Brad Jones ; Mark Milligan (1); Jamie Maclaren , Tom Rogic (3); Tomi Juric (3), Trent Sainsbury (3); Matthew Jurman , Aziz Behich (3)

Games

Australia have played 16 World Cup games so far, two of which have been won, ten lost and four have ended in a draw.

Australia met the hosts once (1974), three times (1974, 2006 and 2018) the eventual world champions and twice (2006 and 2014) the defending champions.

The Australians met newcomers to the World Cup twice: 1974 (when they were newcomers themselves) / GDR and 2010 / Serbia .

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1.	06/14/1974	0: 2	GDR	*	Hamburg ( FRG )	Preliminary round	The only international match by an OFC member against the GDR
2.	06/18/1974	0: 3	FRG	A.	Hamburg ( FRG )	Preliminary round	First international match of an OFC member against Germany
3.	06/22/1974	0-0	Chile	*	West Berlin ( FRG )	Preliminary round	First international match of an OFC member against Chile
4th	06/12/2006	3: 1	Japan	*	Kaiserslautern ( DEU )	Preliminary round	First goal in a World Cup. First victory in a World Cup
5.	06/18/2006	0: 2	Brazil	*	Munich ( DEU )	Preliminary round
6th	06/22/2006	2: 2	Croatia	*	Stuttgart ( DEU )	Preliminary round	Referee Graham Poll shows Australian-born Croat Josip Šimunić three yellow cards
7th	06/26/2006	0: 1	Italy	*	Kaiserslautern ( DEU )	Round of 16	First international match against Italy
8th.	06/13/2010	0: 4	Germany	*	Durban ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
9.	06/19/2010	1: 1	Ghana	*	Rustenburg ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
10.	06/23/2010	2: 1	Serbia	*	Nelspruit ( ZAF )	Preliminary round	First international match against Serbia
11.	06/13/2014	1: 3	Chile	*	Cuiabá ( BRA )	Preliminary round
12.	06/18/2014	2: 3	Netherlands	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	Preliminary round
13.	06/23/2014	0: 3	Spain	*	Curitiba ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First game against Spain
14th	June 16, 2018	1: 2	France	*	Kazan ( RUS )	Group game
15th	June 21, 2018	1: 1	Denmark	*	Samara ( RUS )	Group game
16.	06/26/2018	0: 2	Peru	*	Sochi ( RUS )	Group game	First game against Peru

The Australian team had only one of their biggest wins in a World Cup:

•  Serbia : Preliminary round 2010 2-1 (only win against Serbia)

The Australian team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  GDR : preliminary round 1974 0: 2 (only game against the GDR)
•  Germany : preliminary round 2010 0-4
•  Italy : Round of 16 2010 0-1 (only game against Italy)
•  Netherlands : preliminary round 2014 2: 3 (only defeat against the Netherlands)
•  Peru : Preliminary round 2018 0-2 (first game against Peru)
•  Spain : preliminary round 2014 0-3 (only game against Spain)

Records and special features

• Most games in intercontinental playoffs: 12
• Biggest win in a qualifier: Australia 31-0 American Samoa on April 11, 2001.
• The latest decisive penalty in regular time was the penalty in the round of 16 Italy - Australia at the 2006 World Cup; Francesco Totti converted him to 1-0 for Italy in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
• In the match between Croatia and Australia at the 2006 World Cup, the Australian-born Croat Josip Šimunić was accidentally sent off the pitch only after the third yellow card from referee Graham Poll .
• Besides Argentina, Australia is the only team that played against teams from the East German GDR (1974), the West German Federal Republic of Germany (1954 to 1990) and also against teams from reunified Germany (since 1994) at World Cups. Only Chile and the Netherlands could expand this circle if they meet Germany at a future World Cup.
• Most frequent participation in intercontinental playoffs: 1986, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014 and 2018 (three times qualified: 2006, 2014 and 2018)
• Australia are the only non-Dutch team to have been coached three times by Dutch coaches.

Web links

• fifa.com: Australia

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2014 (PDF file; 195 kB)
2. ↑ Australia, Iran and South Korea buy World Cup tickets. In: fussball-wm-total.de. FOOTBALL World Cup total, June 18, 2013, accessed on October 23, 2013 . 
3. ^ Football World Cup 1974 Germany. (= WM library. 1). Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-86615-156-X , p. 31.
4. ↑ fifa.com: Jedinak shoots the Socceroos to Russia
5. ↑ fifa.com: Postecoglou resigned as coach of Australia.
6. ↑ news.com: Graham Arnold will become Socceroos coach after the World Cup
7. ↑ One of them in the 2nd Bundesliga
8. ↑ 5 of them in the 2nd division