Football was first introduced as an Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games held in France in 1900. It was played by only three club teams from three nations as an exhibition sport and played again at the 1904 Games.[1][2] National sides played for the first time at the 1908 Summer Olympics. India did not send a football side to the Olympics until the 1948 Games; it participated in the next three Games.[3] An Indian team last participated in the 1960 Games. India's best appearance was at the 1956 Summer Olympics where its team reached the semi-finals.[4] Beginning with the 1992 Summer Olympics, the rules were changed so that only under-23 national teams are allowed to compete in the Games. India's U-23 national team has yet to qualify for the Olympic football competition.
- ^ Elbech, Søren; Stokkermans, Karel. "Games of the II. Olympiad-football tournament". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ Elbech, Søren; Stokkermans, Karel. "Games of the III. Olympiad-football tournament". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
- ^ "FIFA Facts" (PDF). FIFA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ Ayush Srivastava. "India's Olympic Heroes: Babu Narayan takes us through his 1956 and 1960 experience". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-10. Retrieved 10 January 2019.