Australia at the FIFA World Cup

Australian Peter Wilson with East German Bernd Bransch before their match at the 1974 FIFA World Cup

This article summarises the results and overall performances of Australia at the FIFA World Cup.

Australia’s men’s team has qualified for the FIFA World Cup finals on seven occasions: 1974, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026.[1] They have also attempted to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 15 times, with their first attempt being in 1966 when they lost to North Korea.

In Australia's first appearance in 1974, representing OFC, a team made up entirely of amateurs secured a scoreless draw against Chile, though they eventually departed from the tournament without a goal to show for their inaugural appearance. Australia made up for lost time at Germany 2006 and qualified for the Round of 16 before narrowly falling to eventual champions Italy. The German theme continued at South Africa 2010 although this time Australia, now representing the AFC, suffered a 4–0 loss against the European giants in a scoreline which ultimately scuppered their progress. A ten-man 1–1 draw against Ghana and a 2–1 win against Serbia saw Australia eliminated on goal difference, three goals off the Africans. Australia were to lose all three games in a tough group at Brazil 2014. In Russia 2018, it took a late own-goal for the eventual champions France to beat them, and a draw with Denmark gave them a chance depending on other results: but a loss to Peru in the final game, and Denmark's draw with France (which would have ended their chances even with a victory) put them out in the group stages. In the Qatar 2022 edition, Australia made it to the last 16 for only the second time - once again losing to France, but scoring victories over Denmark and Tunisia, before falling 2–1 to Argentina, which, like what happened to 2006 Italy, Argentina would eventually claim the World Cup title in 2022. In the jointly hosted 2026 World Cup in North America, Australia made it to the newly introduced round of 32 where they were knocked out by Egypt 4–2 on penalties after drawing 1–1 through extra time. Both Australia's goals in the knockout stages, in 2022 and 2026 have been own goals.

FIFA World Cup record

  Winners    Runners-up    Third place  

FIFA World Cup record Qualification record
Year Host Round Pld W D L GF GA Squad Pos. Pld W D L GF GA
1930 to 1962 Not a FIFA member Not a FIFA member
1966 England Did not qualify 2nd 200229
1970 Mexico 1st 9351128
1974 West Germany Group stage 301205 Squad 1st 115512110
1978 Argentina Did not qualify 4th 126242011
1982 Spain 2nd 8422229
1986 Mexico 1st 8431204
1990 Italy 2nd 6222117
1994 United States 1st 10712217
1998 France 1st 8620345
2002 Japan
South Korea		 1st 8701734
2006 Germany Round of 16 411256 Squad 1st 9711315
2010 South Africa Group stage 311136 Squad 1st 14932194
2014 Brazil Group stage 300339 Squad 2nd 148422512
2018 Russia Group stage 301225 Squad 3rd 2214625118
2022 Qatar Round of 16 420246 Squad 3rd 2013434512
2026 Canada
Mexico
United States		 Round of 32412133Squad 2nd 161141387
2030 Morocco
Portugal
Spain		 To be determined To be determined
2034 Saudi Arabia
Total Round of 16 24 5 6 13 20 40 — 7/16 177 106 44 27 445 132

By match

Year Round Opponent Score Australia scorers
Germany 1974Group 1 East Germany0–2—
 West Germany0–3—
 Chile0–0—
Germany 2006Group F Japan3–1Tim Cahill (2), John Aloisi
 Brazil0–2—
 Croatia2–2Craig Moore, Harry Kewell
Round of 16 Italy0–1—
South Africa 2010Group D Germany0–4—
 Ghana1–1Brett Holman
 Serbia2–1Tim Cahill, Brett Holman
Brazil 2014Group B Chile1–3Tim Cahill
 Netherlands2–3Tim Cahill, Mile Jedinak
 Spain0–3—
Russia 2018Group C France1–2Mile Jedinak
 Denmark1–1Mile Jedinak
 Peru0–2—
Qatar 2022Group D France1–4Craig Goodwin
 Tunisia1–0Mitch Duke
 Denmark1–0Matthew Leckie
Round of 16 Argentina1–2Enzo Fernández (o.g.)
Canada Mexico United States 2026Group D Turkey2–0Nestory Irankunda, Connor Metcalfe
 United States0–2—
 Paraguay0–0—
Round of 32 Egypt1–1 (a.e.t.)
(2–4 p)		Mohamed Hany (o.g.)

Head-to-head record

Opponent Pld W D L GF GA GD Win %
 Argentina 100112−1000.00
 Brazil 100102−2000.00
 Chile 201113−2000.00
 Croatia 101022+0000.00
 Denmark 211021+1050.00
 East Germany 100102−2000.00
 Egypt 101011+0000.00
 France 200226−4000.00
 Germany* 200207−7000.00
 Ghana 101011+0000.00
 Italy 100101−1000.00
 Japan 110031+2100.00
 Netherlands 100123−1000.00
 Paraguay 101000+0000.00
 Peru 100102−2000.00
 Serbia 110021+1100.00
 Spain 100103−3000.00
 Tunisia 110010+1100.00
 Turkey 110020+2100.00
 United States 100102−2000.00
Total 2456132040−20020.83
  • Games against West Germany are included in the statistics of Germany.

1974 FIFA World Cup

Group 1

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 East Germany 321041+35
 West Germany 320141+34
 Chile 302112−12
 Australia 301205−51
East Germany 2–0 Australia
Curran red-colored football 58' (o.g.)
Streich 72'		 Report
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)
Australia 0–3 West Germany
Report 12' Overath
34' Cullmann
53' Müller
Attendance: 53,000
Referee: Mahmoud Mustafa Kamel (Egypt)
Australia 0–0 Chile
Report
Attendance: 14,681
Referee: Jafar Namdar (Iran)

2006 FIFA World Cup

Group F

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Brazil 330071+69
 Australia 31115504
 Croatia 302123−12
 Japan 301227−51
Australia 3–1 Japan
Cahill 84', 89'
Aloisi 90+2'		 Report 26' Nakamura
Attendance: 46,000
Brazil 2–0 Australia
Adriano 49'
Fred 90'		 Report
Attendance: 66,000
Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)
Croatia 2–2 Australia
Srna 2'
N. Kovač 56'
Šimić Yellow card 32' Yellow-red card 85'
Šimunić Yellow card 61' Yellow card 90' Yellow-red card 90+3' (Note1)		 Report 38' (pen.) Moore
79' Kewell
Emerton Yellow card 81' Yellow-red card 87'
Attendance: 52,000
Referee: Graham Poll (England)

Note 1: Šimunić was given three yellow cards in the match: the referee (Graham Poll) failed to send him off the pitch after the second yellow, and was only red carded after the third yellow.

Round of 16

Italy 1–0 Australia
Totti 90+5' (pen.)
Materazzi Red card 50'		 Report
Attendance: 46,000

2010 FIFA World Cup

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 3 2 0 1 5 1 +4 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Ghana 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
3  Australia 3 1 1 1 3 6 −3 4
4  Serbia 3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 3
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria
Germany 4–0 Australia
 Report Cahill Red card 56'
Attendance: 62,660
Ghana 1–1 Australia
Gyan 25' (pen.) Report
Attendance: 34,812
Australia 2–1 Serbia
 Report
Attendance: 37,836

2014 FIFA World Cup

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Netherlands 3 3 0 0 10 3 +7 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  Chile 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6
3  Spain 3 1 0 2 4 7 −3 3
4  Australia 3 0 0 3 3 9 −6 0
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tie-breaking criteria
Chile 3–1 Australia
 Report Cahill 35'
Attendance: 40,275
Australia 2–3 Netherlands
 Report
Attendance: 42,877
Australia 0–3 Spain
Report
Attendance: 39,375

2018 FIFA World Cup

Group C

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 3 2 1 0 3 1 +2 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Denmark 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5
3  Peru 3 1 0 2 2 2 0 3
4  Australia 3 0 1 2 2 5 −3 1
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
France 2–1 Australia
 [Report 1]
Attendance: 41,279
Denmark 1–1 Australia
 [Report 2]
Attendance: 40,727
Australia 0–2 Peru
[Report 3]
Attendance: 44,073

2022 FIFA World Cup

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 3 2 0 1 6 3 +3 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Australia 3 2 0 1 3 4 −1 6
3  Tunisia 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 4
4  Denmark 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
France 4–1 Australia
 [Report 4]
Attendance: 40,875
Tunisia 0–1 Australia
[Report 5]
Attendance: 41,823
Australia 1–0 Denmark
 [Report 6]
Attendance: 41,232

Round of 16

Argentina 2–1 Australia
 [Report 7]
Attendance: 45,032

2026 FIFA World Cup

Group D

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States (H) 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 6 Advance to knockout stage
2  Australia 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4[a]
3  Paraguay 3 1 1 1 2 4 −2 4[a]
4  Turkey 3 1 0 2 3 5 −2 3
Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Notes:
  1. 1 2 Tied on head-to-head result (Paraguay 0–0 Australia). Overall goal difference was used as the tiebreaker.
Australia 2–0 Turkey
 [Report 8]
Attendance: 52,497
United States 2–0 Australia
 [Report 9]
Attendance: 66,925
Paraguay 0–0 Australia
[Report 10]
Attendance: 68,827

Round of 32

Australia 1–1 (a.e.t.) Egypt
 [Report 11]
Penalties
 2–4
Attendance: 70,244

Player records

Most appearances

Rank Player Appearances World Cups
1Mathew Leckie112014, 2018, 2022, 2026
Mathew Ryan2014, 2018, 2022, 2026
Jackson Irvine2018, 2022, 2026
4Aziz Behich102018, 2022, 2026
5 Mark Bresciano92006, 2010, 2014
Tim Cahill2006, 2010, 2014, 2018
7Harry Souttar82022, 2026
8 Scott Chipperfield72006, 2010
Jason Culina2006, 2010
Lucas Neill2006, 2010
Mile Jedinak2010, 2014, 2018
Aaron Mooy2018, 2022

Goalscorers

Tim Cahill, Australia's male top scorer and record goalscorer at World Cups, in 2009.

Tim Cahill is Australia's all-time FIFA World Cup goalscoring leader; he also scored his nation's first-ever goal at the tournament, coming against Japan on 12 June 2006 in Kaiserslautern.

Player Goals 1974 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026
Tim Cahill 5 212
Mile Jedinak 3 12
Brett Holman 2 2
John Aloisi 1 1
Harry Kewell 1 1
Craig Moore 1 1
Craig Goodwin 1 1
Mitchell Duke 1 1
Mathew Leckie 1 1
Nestory Irankunda 1 1
Connor Metcalfe 1 1
Own goals 2 11
Total 20 0533243
Own goals scored for opponents

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Country Info". FIFA. Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  2. ↑ "Referee designations for matches 1-16" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 5 June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  3. ↑ "Referee designations for matches 17-24" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 14 June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 15 June 2010.

Reports

  1. ↑
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  11. ↑
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