Australia men's national soccer team

History

Early years

The first Australia national team was constituted in 1922 for a tour of New Zealand, which included two defeats and a draw. For the next 36 years, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa became regular opponents in tour (exhibition) matches. During that period, Australia also competed against Canada and India during their tours of Australia in 1924 and 1938 respectively. Australia recorded their worst ever defeat on 30 June 1951 as they lost 17–0 in a match to a touring England side. The country had a rare opportunity to compete on the world's stage during the team's first major international tournament as hosts of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. However, an inexperienced squad proved to be reason for the team's disappointing performance, including a 4–2 loss to India in the quarterfinals. With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia began to diversify its range of opponents, but its geographical isolation continued to play a role in its destiny for the next 30 years. Australia won the 1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup against seven other nations, but this gained little recognition domestically.

After failing to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 1966 and 1970, losing in play-offs to North Korea and Israel respectively, Australia finally appeared at their first World Cup in West Germany in 1974. After managing only a draw with Chile and losses to East Germany and eventual champions West Germany, the team, which was made up of mostly amateur players, was eliminated at the end of the first round, finishing last in their group without scoring a goal. It would prove to be the only appearance for the Australian team until the World Cup returned to Germany more than three decades later in 2006. Over a 40-year period, the Australian team was known for its near misses in its attempts to qualify for the World Cup; they lost play-offs in 1966 to North Korea, 1970 to Israel, 1986 to Scotland, 1994 to Argentina, 1998 to Iran and 2002 to Uruguay.

First successes and "golden generation"

While World Cup qualification eluded the team between 1974 and 2006, Australia produced some notable performances against strong European and South American sides. In 1988, Australia defeated reigning world champions Argentina 4–1 in the Australian Bicentennial Gold Cup. In 1997, Australia drew with reigning world champions Brazil 0–0 in the group stage and then defeated Uruguay 1–0 in the semi-finals to reach the 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup final.

In 2001, after a victory against reigning world champions France in the group stage, Australia finished the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup in third place after defeating Brazil 1–0 in the third-place match. Australia defeated England 3–1 at West Ham United's Boleyn Ground in 2003 as Wayne Rooney made his international debut.

In early 2005, it was reported that Football Australia had entered into discussions to join the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and end an almost 40-year association with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). Many commentators and fans, including soccer broadcaster and former Australian captain Johnny Warren (deceased in 2004), felt that the only way for Australia to progress was to abandon Oceania. On 13 March, the AFC executive committee made a unanimous decision to invite Australia to join the AFC. After the OFC executive committee unanimously endorsed Australia's proposed move, FIFA approved the move on 30 June 2005. Australia joined Asia, with the move taking effect on 1 January 2006, though until then, Australia had to compete for a 2006 FIFA World Cup position as an OFC member country.

After a successful campaign, the team took the first steps towards qualification for the 2006 World Cup. After coach Frank Farina stood down from the position after Australia's dismal performance at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, Guus Hiddink was announced as the new national coach. Australia, ranked 49th, would then have to play the 18th ranked Uruguay in a rematch of the 2001 qualification play-off for a spot in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. After a 5–0 friendly win against Jamaica, the first leg of the play-off tournament was lost (1–0), with the return leg still to be played in Australia four days later in Sydney on 16 November 2005.

The second leg of the qualifying play-off was played in front of a crowd of 82,698 at Stadium Australia. Australia led Uruguay 1–0 after 90 minutes following a goal by Mark Bresciano in the first half. The aggregate was tied, and extra time was played. Neither team scored after two periods of extra time, bringing the game to a penalty shootout. Australia won the penalty shootout 4–2, making them the first-ever team to qualify for a World Cup via a penalty shootout. Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer made two saves, with John Aloisi scoring the winning penalty for a place in the World Cup, Australia's first qualification in 32 years.

Later success

Led by coach Graham Arnold, Australia went to their first AFC Asian Cup in 2007, sending a strong squad which included 15 players from the previous year's World Cup team. In Group A they played against Oman (a 1–1 draw), Thailand (a 4–0 win) and eventual champions Iraq (a 3–1 loss), assuring Australia's progression to the quarter-final stage of the tournament. After drawing 1–1 with Japan with 120 minutes played, Australia exited the tournament on penalties at the quarter-final stage. An international friendly on 11 September 2007 against Argentina (a 1–0 loss) was Graham Arnold's last game as head coach, with the position eventually being filled by Pim Verbeek on 6 December 2007.

Australia began their 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign in the third round of qualification, drawn into a group consisting of Qatar, Iraq and China PR, in which Australia finished first. Australia eventually saw progression through to the tournament in South Africa after comfortably winning the fourth round of qualification in a group consisting of Japan, Bahrain, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Australia's qualification was already assured before the final two games, finally topping its group ahead of Japan by five points.

Australia was drawn into Group D in the World Cup, which featured three-time world champion Germany, Ghana and Serbia. On 14 June, Australia faced Germany. Pim Verbeek's surprising decision to play without a recognised striker saw Australia comprehensively defeated 4–0. Verbeek received heavy criticism for his tactics, with SBS (Australia's World Cup broadcaster) chief soccer analyst Craig Foster calling for his immediate sacking. Australia's second group match against Ghana resulted in a 1–1 draw, and their third and final group match against Serbia resulted in a 2–1 win. Ultimately, Australia were eliminated on goal difference behind Ghana. Pim Verbeek completed his term as Australian coach at the end of the 2010 World Cup and was soon replaced by Holger Osieck.

In 2010, Australia qualified for their second AFC Asian Cup, topping their qualification group. A successful campaign at the 2011 Asian Cup saw Australia become runners-up to Japan, after losing in the Final 1–0 in extra time.

In 2012, Australia agreed to compete in the East Asian Cup. Australia travelled to Hong Kong to compete in a series of qualification matches with the hopes of qualifying for the 2013 East Asian Cup. Despite handing several debuts and fielding an in-experienced squad, Australia was successful, finishing ahead of Hong Kong, North Korea, Guam and Chinese Taipei to progress to the 2013 East Asian Cup, where Australia eventually finished last behind Japan, South Korea and China PR. On 26 August 2013, Australia became full members of the ASEAN Football Federation but as part of their entrance agreement with the sub-confederation, their national team is barred from participating in the AFF Championship due to their perceived wide gap in playing standards between Australia and the rest of the region.

New generation: the 2015 AFC Asian Cup triumph

After a two-week search for a new manager, Ange Postecoglou was eventually appointed in the position. Postecoglou was tasked with regenerating the Australian national team, which was deemed to have been too reliant on members of their Golden Generation of 2006, subsequently leading to a stagnation of results, culminating in successive 6–0 defeats to Brazil and France. In his first game as Australia's manager, a home friendly match against Costa Rica, Australia won 1–0 courtesy of a goal from Tim Cahill.

At the World Cup, Australia were drawn in Group B alongside defending world champions Spain, 2010 runners-up Netherlands and Chile. Their first match was off to a lacklustre start, having conceded two goals in the opening 15 minutes from Alexis Sánchez and Jorge Valdivia. Despite a goal from Tim Cahill that inspired a late resurgence from Postecoglou's team, they ultimately lost to Chile 3–1. Their second match against the Netherlands was a close one, with the Socceroos giving up a 2–1 lead, eventually resulting in a 3–2 loss, thus earning their early exit along with the Spanish. In the end, Australia finished Group B with a third consecutive defeat to Spain, 3–0. Australia's competitive World Cup performances in a difficult group led to believe that a new Golden Generation was about to begin.

In their first international match after the World Cup, Australia played 2014 quarter-finalists Belgium in Liège, with Australia going down 2–0. Four days later, Australia achieved their first international win in ten months, and just their second win under Ange Postecoglou, with a 3–2 victory over Saudi Arabia in London. After drawing against the United Arab Emirates, and suffering successive losses against Qatar and Japan, combined with previous poor results earlier in the year, Australia slipped to 94 and 102 in the FIFA World Rankings, their lowest-ever ranking.

The new year saw Australia host the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, with the team making their third consecutive appearance in the tournament. Australia won their first two group matches against Kuwait and Oman comfortably, with scorelines of 4–1 and 4–0 respectively. This guaranteed their qualification for the knockout stage, despite losing their final group match against South Korea in Brisbane 1–0. They faced China PR in the quarter-finals and won 2–0, courtesy of a second-half brace from Tim Cahill. In the semi-finals, Australia won 2–0 over the United Arab Emirates and advanced to the final for the second time in a row. They faced South Korea in the final on 31 January at Stadium Australia, winning 2–1 after extra time to claim their first Asian title and qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

2022 FIFA World Cup resurgence

Australia took part in the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, which they entered in the second round, in which they faced Kuwait, Jordan, Nepal and Chinese Taipei. Australia dominated the group with eight wins out of eight to reach the third round, where it faced Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, Oman and Vietnam. After a start with three straight wins over China, Vietnam and Oman, Australia then won only one game, against Vietnam, in their final seven matches, being held thrice and losing three more, finishing third in the group. It then had to rely on fourth round playoffs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of Australia's playoffs were centralised in Doha. The Socceroos began their quest with a 2–1 win over the United Arab Emirates, to face fifth place CONMEBOL qualification finisher Peru, a rematch of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This time around, Australia held Peru goalless, before winning on penalties to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Australia was drawn in group D along with France, Denmark and Tunisia. Australia's qualification also meant that the Asian confederation had the largest number of teams in their FIFA World Cup history, with six countries qualifying.

As preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Australia played two friendlies against neighbouring New Zealand, winning both games. It began its World Cup quest on 23 November against France, losing 4–1 after initially taking the lead with goal from Craig Goodwin. Three days later Australia registered its first World Cup win since 2010, overcoming Tunisia with a header from Mitchell Duke to seal a 1–0 win, sending Australia from bottom to second place. Four days later, against UEFA Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark, Australia won 1–0, thanks to a Mathew Leckie goal. Australia finished the group stage in second place behind France on goal difference, making Australia the first Asian representative to reach the knockout stage in Qatar 2022. Australia's resurgence in the group stage was widely watched and followed by Australian supporters. Mass celebrations occurred after the upsets over Tunisia and Denmark, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the achievement "magnificent". In the round of 16, Australia lost 2–1 to Argentina, with Lionel Messi opening the scoring and Julián Álvarez getting the second after dispossessing Mathew Ryan. Australia pulled one back when Goodwin's shot deflected into goal off Enzo Fernández and Garang Kuol almost scored the equaliser in injury time, but his shot was smothered by Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez.

2026 World Cup qualification

On 20 September 2024, Graham Arnold announced he was stepping down as head coach, two games into the third round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying. The Socceroos had only picked up one point from two matches. On 23 September 2024, Football Australia's James Johnson announced that Tony Popovic had been appointed as head coach. Popovic led the Socceroos to wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia, and Australia eventually ensured direct qualification to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2014, and their sixth consecutive World Cup appearance.

2026 FIFA World Cup campaign

Australia played their first match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup against Turkey on 13 June 2026. The match was played at BC Place, Vancouver, British Columbia. Goals from Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe, as well as a clean sheet and eight saves from surprise starting goalkeeper, Patrick Beach, sealed an upset 2-0 victory for Australia.

Team image

Media coverage

Australian matches are broadcast by Paramount+ and on free-to-air by Network 10 until 2028, with the exception during the FIFA World Cup finals tournament matches that still aired live and free on SBS.

Previous coverage has been provided by Fox Sports until 2021.

The national team has set multiple ratings records for both subscription and free-to-air television. Australia's final 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay was the highest rating program in SBS history with an audience of 3.4 million viewers, while a 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Uzbekistan set a record for the highest subscription television audience, with an average of 431,000 viewers. The 2015 AFC Asian Cup final against South Korea had a total reach of 5.3 million Australians overall.

Kit

For the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the home shirt is mostly gold, with green accents including around the neck and underarm/sides. The logos and player numbers are also in green. The home shorts are a light to dark green gradient, with logos and numbers in gold. The home socks are white. The away kit is mostly blue-green with a gradient into coral at the shoulder level, and the logos and player numbers are white. The away shorts and socks are the same blue-green colour. There is also white ribbing on both home and away kits.

The previous Socceroos kit from 2025 was designed by Reko Rennie, a First Nations artist. This kit is still used across Australia's other national football teams, including the Matildas. The home shirt is predominantly yellow and light green chevron patterning. The shorts are a solid dark green, along with the collar, side, and cuffs of the shirt. They are usually worn with white socks. The away kit is predominantly black, with a light green collar and cuffs on the shirt. It is also adorned with pink and green chevron patterning on its sides.

Australia's jersey traditionally features the coat of arms of Australia over the left breast, however the fan replica versions show a slightly modified version with the Football Australia logo rather than the shield.

Australia's first kit was sky blue with a maroon hoop on the socks, the colours representing the states of New South Wales and Queensland, a look that was reminiscent of the Australian national rugby league team's strips of the period. They wore the predominantly light blue kit until 1924 when they changed to green and gold, Australia's national colours.

Australia has worn a yellow jersey, usually accompanied by green shorts, and yellow socks since the 1960s. The colour of the socks altered throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s from white to the same green as the shorts to the same yellow colour as the jersey. The team first wore the traditional green and yellow colours in 1924.

Australia's kits have been produced by manufacturers including Umbro, Adidas, KingRoo, and since 2004 by Nike. Australia's 1974 World Cup kits were produced by Adidas as were all other national team kits in the tournament, with Adidas sponsoring the event. The kits, however, contained Umbro branding, due to the manufacturer's Australian partnership at the time. Nike renewed the kit manufacturer deal with FFA for another 11 years in 2012, handing them the rights to make national team kits until 2022. In the lead-up to the 2014 World Cup, the new kits to be worn by the team were revealed. The design of the new kits included a plain yellow shirt with a green collar, plain dark green shorts and white socks, a tribute to the 1974 Socceroos. Inside the back of the neck also had woven the quote, "We Socceroos can do the impossible", from Peter Wilson, the captain of the 1974 Australian team. This kit was well received. In March 2016, FFA revealed the new Socceroos kit, which featured a yellow jersey, yellow shorts and green socks. This was reportedly in accordance with a FIFA directive, instructing all national teams to have matching shirts and shorts. This kit was met with wide public contention, primarily due to the colour change of the shorts from the traditional green to yellow.

Nickname

Australia's nickname, "Socceroos", was coined in 1967 by Sydney journalist Tony Horstead in his coverage of the team on a goodwill tour to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It is commonly used by both the Australian people and the governing body, the FFA. The nickname represents a cultural propensity for the use of colloquialisms in the country. It also represents the Australian English use of the sport's name.

The name itself is similar to most other Australian national representative sporting team nicknames; used informally when referring to the team, in the media or in conversation. Similarly, the name is derived from a well-known symbol of Australia, in this case, the kangaroo. The words soccer and kangaroo are combined into a portmanteau word as soccer-roo; such as Olyroos for the Australia Olympic soccer team or Hockeyroos for the Australian national women's hockey team.

Underdog mentality

As is the case with many national sports teams from Australia, the Socceroos and their supporters tend to embrace the underdog status when facing opposition that is perceived by onlookers to be a higher quality opponent that should defeat the Australians. The underdog mentality is considered a defining characteristic of the Australian national soccer team and there have been numerous famous examples of the Socceroos pulling off upset wins that were inspired by being underestimated by opposition players, coaches, fans or the media.

In February 2003, England coach Sven Goran-Eriksson had announced in the lead up to a friendly match against the Socceroos that he would rest his star players including David Beckham, Michael Owen, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes at half-time, which the Australians considered disrespectful. The Aussies would shock England by scoring twice in the first half while England remained scoreless with their full strength team on the park and the game ended in a 3–1 win for the Socceroos in what would be considered one of Australia's greatest ever international victories.

In November 2005, Uruguyan star striker Álvaro Recoba stated that Uruguay had a "divine right" to play in the FIFA World Cup ahead of the Socceroos when asked to comment on the upcoming second leg of the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification inter-confederation play-off with Australia. Despite leading the play-off after a 1–0 win in the first leg, Uruguay would lose the second leg match 1–0 and would ultimately lose the subsequent penalty shootout 4–2 that sent Australia through to its first World Cup appearance in 32 years.

In June 2026, Turkish captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu stated that he believed Turkey would "dominate" Australia in their Group D match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup because they "have more qualities and a more talented team". Turkish star Arda Güler was then overheard telling his teammates "we are much better" than the Socceroos in the tunnel as the two teams were about to run out for the match. Australia would defeat the highly fancied Turkey team 2–0 in the match in one of its best ever World Cup performances and goalscorer Nestory Irankunda revealed post-match that they used the pre-match comments from the Turkish players as motivation and stated that "they did their talking, but they couldn’t back it up on the field."

Naming rights and sponsorship

The team has been branded the "CommBank Socceroos" since 1 September 2025, after Commonwealth Bank (who also have the naming rights for the women's national team) took over the naming rights from restaurant chain Subway, whose previous deal started in 2022.

Previously, they were known as the "Caltex Socceroos" under the sponsorship of Caltex Australia from 2017 to 2019. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, some of Caltex's service stations were re-branded as "Cahilltex" as a nod to Socceroos player Tim Cahill.

Football Australia has been sponsored by Qantas as its official airline since 2004.

Rivalries

Australia's longtime rivals are trans-Tasman neighbours New Zealand. The two teams' history dates back to 1922, where they first met in both their international debuts. The rivalry between the Socceroos and the All Whites (New Zealand) is part of a wider friendly rivalry between the neighbours Australia and New Zealand, which applies not only to sport but to the culture of the two countries. The rivalry was intensified when Australia and New Zealand were both members of the OFC, regularly competing in OFC Nations Cup finals and in FIFA World Cup qualifications, where only one team from the OFC progressed to the World Cup. Since Australia joined the AFC in 2006, competition between the two teams has been infrequent, with the occasional match still receiving much media and public attention.

After joining the AFC, Australia began to develop a fierce rivalry with fellow Asian powerhouse Japan. The rivalry began at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where the two countries were grouped together. The rivalry continued with the two countries meeting regularly in various AFC competitions, including the 2011 Asian Cup final and qualification for the 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026 World Cups.

Another major rival within Asia is South Korea, who Australia came up against in three World Cup qualification campaigns in the 1970s and, since joining the AFC, have met regularly, including the 2015 Asian Cup final.

A rivalry exists with Uruguay since their first meeting on the eve of the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Both nations have faced each other in consecutive FIFA World Cup play-offs in 2001 and 2005 with each nation winning a playoff final each to progress through to the World Cup. Australia and Uruguay also faced off in the 1997 Confederations Cup in Saudi Arabia, with Australia progressing through to the final against Brazil via a golden goal winner from Harry Kewell.

Supporters

The main supporter group of the Australian national team is Australian Active Support (AAS). AAS, then known as Socceroos Active Support (SAS), was founded in January 2015 as an independent group, who uses social media to organise and keep in touch. This replaced the former active support group Terrace Australis, who were founded by Football Federation Australia and fans in 2013, during Australia's 2014 World Cup qualification campaign. Its establishment came in the wake of poor off-field action and minimal community engagement. Previously, the emergence of Terrace Australis saw the Green and Gold Army relinquish its role as a hub for active support, which it had claimed since its establishment in 2001. Since the 2015 AFC Asian Cup triumph, the supporters had encouraged people in Australia to focus more on the national team, and the nation's soccer pride.

Home stadium

Australia does not have a dedicated national stadium; instead, the team plays at different venues throughout the country for exhibition or tournament purposes. In recent years, major international matches have usually been rotated around various large grounds, including Stadium Australia in Sydney, Hunter Stadium in Newcastle and Docklands Stadium in Melbourne. International matches have also been played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and Melbourne Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne and Canberra Stadium in Canberra.

Australia has played at the Gabba in Brisbane, which hosted Australia's first international match on home soil in 1923, a 2–1 win over New Zealand. It was the fourth Australian team match overall, with the first three internationals played in New Zealand. Other venues which regularly hosted international home matches included Olympic Park Stadium in Melbourne, the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney Showground, and Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, and Subiaco Oval in Perth.

Since the 2003 friendly against England, the Socceroos have also played a significant number of games in England, especially London, since a high proportion of the senior team play in European leagues. This includes games at Madejski Stadium in Reading (Reading Football Club's home ground) in 2003 against Jamaica, Loftus Road in Shepherd's Bush (Queens Park Rangers' home ground) in 2004 and 2008 against South Africa, 2006 against Ghana, and 2007 against Denmark.

Craven Cottage in Fulham (Fulham Football Club's home ground) hosted Australia's matches against Norway in 2004, New Zealand and Jamaica in 2005. Craven Cottage also hosted Australia's matches against Jamaica in 2007, 2013 against Canada, 2014 against Saudi Arabia, and 2018 against Colombia, while Australia played at The Den in Bermondsey (Millwall Football Club's home ground) in 2014 against Ecuador, and Brentford Community Stadium in Brentford (Brentford Football Club's home ground) in 2023 against New Zealand.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win

Draw

Loss

Fixture

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

As of January 2026

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Caps and goals correct as of 3 July 2026, after the match against Egypt.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up within the last 12 months.

Individual records

Australia currently hold the world record for the largest win and the most goals scored by a player in an international match. Both records were achieved during the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification match against American Samoa on 11 April 2001. Australia won 31–0 with Archie Thompson scoring 13 goals and David Zdrilic scoring eight. Two days before the 31–0 win, Australia broke the record for largest win with a 22–0 win over Tonga. With 13 and 8 goals respectively, both Thompson and Zdrilic broke the previous record jointly held by another Australian, Gary Cole, who scored seven goals against Fiji in 1981, and Iranian Karim Bagheri, who also scored seven goals against Maldives in 1997.

As of 3 July 2026

Players in bold are still active with Australia.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Winners Runners-up Third place

FIFA Confederations Cup

Winners Runners-up Third place

AFC Asian Cup

Winners Runners-up Third place

OFC Men's Nations Cup

Winners Runners-up Third place

FIFA Rankings

Last update was on 22 December 2025

Source:

Best Ranking Worst Ranking Best Mover Worst Mover

Honours

Global

FIFA Confederations Cup

Runners-up (1): 1997

Third place (1): 2001

Intercontinental

AFC-OFC Challenge Cup

Runners-up (1): 2001

Continental

AFC Asian Cup

Champions (1): 2015

Runners-up (1): 2011

OFC Nations Cup

Champions (4): 1980, 1996, 2000, 2004

Runners-up (2): 1998, 2002

Friendly

Trans-Tasman Cup (4): 1986, 1988, 1991, 1995

Soccer Ashes (6): 1933, 1936, 1948, 1954, 2023, 2025

Indonesian Independence Cup (1): 1990

South Vietnam Independence Cup (1): 1967

Australia Bicentenary Gold Cup (1): 1988

Merlion Cup (2): 1982, 1983

FIFA Series (1): 2026

Awards

AFC Men's Team of the Year (2): 2006, 2015

AFC Asian Cup Fair Play Award (1): 2015