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History of the Australian Socceroos at the World Cup

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Australia has a rich sporting history, winners of many world sporting championships, though its participation at the premier world sporting event - the FIFA World Cup of Football - has been limited. Only once previously have they reached the World Cup FInals, in Germany 1974. Their performance in 1974 was credible but not spectacular, not scoring a goal in their three matches. Following defeats by the former DDR and subsequent world champions Germany, they held Chile to a creditable 0-0 draw in their last group game but were still eliminated.

Between 1930 and 1962, Australia did not enter the World Cup. In 1966 and 1970 they did not qualify. In 1974 they made it only to the first round. From 1978 to 2002 they again failed to qualify, until 2006 where they again join the best Football nations of the world.

It has always been a hard road to the World Cup for Australia to follow. Australia have appeared in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers a total of ten times since their first attempt to qualify in 1966 in England. During that first attempt to qualify, Australia had to play off against North Korea, which was a controversial match up as North Korea was a political entity not recognized by many nations including the United Kingdom. The match was played in neutral Cambodia. Future campaigns for the 1970, 1978, 1982, and 1986 World Cups would see Australia play off for a spot in the World Cup though round-about means and against a variety of nations. The qualifying process was somewhat simplified from the 1990 World Cup onwards.

In Australia's qualifying matches for USA 94, Australia had to endure 3 playoff stages. The first stage was the Oceania playoff - beating New Zealand in the final. Following the win in the Oceania playoff, Australia then beat Canada, the CONCACAF 3rd round runner up in a 2-game playoff. Australia then qualified for the 2-leg playoff against the South American group 1 runner up, Argentina, which they lost in a close series, denying Australia a place at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

For the 1998 World Cup, the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) was granted a 'guaranteed' 0.5 qualifying spot. In 1997, after winning the OFC qualifying tournament, Australia lost to Iran over two legs and missed their chance to play in France. In 2001 Australia again won the Oceania Confederation qualifying tournament. However, Australia lost in a two leg playoff - this time against the 5th placed South American team, Uruguay. Following a 1-0 home win, they were beaten 3-0 in a return game, and missed their chance to play in the World Cup finals to be held in South Korea and Japan.

Despite their turbulent history, Australian football is on the up and up, buoyed by a 3-1 win in England in 2003 and other successes. In 2006, Australia returned to Germany, finally having their second chance to play for the World Cup. Australia made it through to the knockout round, to be beaten controversially in the last seconds by Italy, the eventual Cup winners. Their performance in the 2006 World Cup has given soccer back home in Australia a great publicity boost, and with this momentum the national team is hoping to be back again in four years bigger and stronger than ever.

For the 2010 campaign, Australia has moved to the Asian Federation, and will have to play a series of qualification matches agaist Asian nations.

Related Pages

• World Cup History
• Index to Australia at the World Cup