Australia at the FIFA World Cup

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

The Australia national soccer team, nicknamed the Socceroos, has represented Australia at the FIFA World Cup on four occasions: in 1974, 2006, 2010, and 2014.^[1]

In Australia's first appearance, representing OFC, a team made up entirely of amateurs secured a scoreless draw against Chile, though eventually departed from the 1974 tournament without a goal to show from 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.

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not participate									–	–	–	–	–	–
1934										–	–	–	–	–	–
1938										–	–	–	–	–	–
1950										–	–	–	–	–	–
1954										–	–	–	–	–	–
1958										–	–	–	–	–	–
1962										–	–	–	–	–	–
1966	Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	2	9
1970										9	3	5	1	12	8
1974	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	0	5		11	5	5	1	21	10
1978	Did not qualify									12	6	2	4	20	11
1982										8	4	2	2	22	9
1986										8	4	3	1	20	4
1990										6	2	2	2	11	7
1994										10	7	1	2	21	7
1998										8	6	2	0	34	5
2002										8	7	0	1	73	4
2006	Round of 16	16th	4	1	1	2	5	6		9	7	1	1	31	5
2010	Group stage	21st	3	1	1	1	3	6		14	9	3	2	19	4
2014	Group Stage	30th	3	0	0	3	3	9		14	8	4	2	25	12
2018	To be determined
2022
Total	4/20	0 Titles	13	2	3	8	11	26		119	68	30	21	311	95

Record by opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team)
Opponent	Wins	Draws	Losses	Total	Goals Scored	Goals Conceded
Brazil	0	0	1	1	0	2
Chile	0	1	1	2	1	3
Croatia	0	1	0	1	2	2
Germany*	0	0	3	3	0	9
Ghana	0	1	0	1	1	1
Italy	0	0	1	1	0	1
Japan	1	0	0	1	3	1
Netherlands	0	0	1	1	2	3
Serbia	1	0	0	1	2	1
Spain	0	0	1	1	0	3

• Games of East Germany and West Germany are counted towards Germany.

1974 FIFA World Cup

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
East Germany	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	5
West Germany	3	2	0	1	4	1	+3	4
Chile	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
Australia	3	0	1	2	0	5	−5	1

East Germany  v  Australia

14 June 1974 19:30 CET

East Germany	2 – 0	Australia
Curran  58' (o.g.) Streich  72'	Report

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Youssou N'Diaye (Senegal)

---

Australia  v  West Germany

18 June 1974 16:00 CET

Australia	0 – 3	West Germany
	Report	12' Overath  34' Cullmann  53' Müller

Volksparkstadion, Hamburg Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Mahmoud Mustafa Kamel (Egypt)

---

Australia  v  Chile

22 June 1974 16:00 CET

Australia	0 – 0	Chile
	Report

Olympic Stadium, West Berlin Attendance: 14,681 Referee: Jafar Namdar (Iran)

2006 FIFA World Cup

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
Australia	3	1	1	1	5	5	0	4
Croatia	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2
Japan	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Australia  v  Japan

12 June 2006 15:00 CEST

Australia	3 – 1	Japan
Cahill  84', 89' Aloisi  90+2'	Report	26' Nakamura

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern Attendance: 46,000 Referee: Essam Abd El Fatah (Egypt)

---

Brazil  v  Australia

18 June 2006 18:00 CEST

Brazil	2 – 0	Australia
Adriano  49' Fred  90'	Report

Allianz Arena, Munich Attendance: 66,000 Referee: Markus Merk (Germany)

---

Croatia  v  Australia

22 June 2006 21:00 CEST

Croatia	2 – 2	Australia
Srna  2' N. Kovač  56'	Report	38' (pen.) Moore  79' Kewell

Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Graham Poll (England)

---

Round of 16

Italy  v  Australia

26 June 2006 17:00 CEST

Italy	1 – 0	Australia
Totti  90+5' (pen.)	Report

Fritz-Walter-Stadion, Kaiserslautern Attendance: 46,000 Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)

2010 FIFA World Cup

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Germany 3 2 0 1 5 1 +4 6  Ghana 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4  Australia 3 1 1 1 3 6 −3 4  Serbia 3 1 0 2 2 3 −1 3

Germany  v  Australia

13 June 2010

Germany	4 – 0	Australia
Podolski  8' Klose  26' Müller  68' Cacau  70'	Report

Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban Attendance: 62,660 Referee: Marco Antonio Rodríguez (Mexico)[2]

---

Ghana  v  Australia

19 June 2010 16:00

Ghana	1 – 1	Australia
Gyan  25' (pen.)	Report	Holman  11'

Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg Attendance: 34,812 Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)[3]

---

Australia  v  Serbia

23 June 2010 20:30

Australia	2 – 1	Serbia
Cahill  69' Holman  73'	Report	Pantelić  84'

Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit Attendance: 37,836 Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

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  v  Australia

13 June 2014 18:00

Chile	3–1	Australia
Sánchez  12' Valdivia  14' Beausejour  90+2'	Report	Cahill  35'

Arena Pantanal, Cuiabá Attendance: 40,275 Referee: Noumandiez Doué (Ivory Coast)

---

Australia  v  Netherlands

18 June 2014 13:00

Australia	2–3	Netherlands
Cahill  21' Jedinak  54' (pen.)	Report	Robben  20' van Persie  58' Memphis  68'

Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre Attendance: 42,877 Referee: Noumandiez Doué (Ivory Coast)

---

Australia  v  Spain

23 June 2014 13:00

Australia	0–3	Spain
	Report	Villa  36' Torres  69' Mata  82'

Arena da Baixada, Curitiba Attendance: 39,375 Referee: Nawaf Shukralla (Bahrain)

Goalscorers

Player	Goals	1974	2006	2010	2014
Cahill, TimTim Cahill	5		2	1	2
Holman, BrettBrett Holman	2			2
Aloisi, JohnJohn Aloisi	1		1
Kewell, HarryHarry Kewell	1		1
Moore, CraigCraig Moore	1		1
Jedinak, MileMile Jedinak	1				1
Total	11	0	5	3	3

Own goals scored for opponents

• Colin Curran (scored for East Germany in 1974)

Most appearances

Player	Appearances	World Cups
Mark Bresciano	9	2006, 2010, 2014
Tim Cahill	8	2006, 2010, 2014
Scott Chipperfield	7	2006, 2010
Jason Culina	7	2006, 2010
Lucas Neill	7	2006, 2010
Mark Schwarzer	6	2006, 2010
Brett Emerton	6	2006, 2010
Craig Moore	6	2006, 2010

References

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