The Blue Tigers played their first-ever World Cup qualifying game in 1985...
1985 was the first time India got a chance to play in the World Cup qualifiers when they entered the group stage of the qualifying rounds of the 1986 World Cup.
Their first-ever World Cup qualifying match was against Indonesia in Jakarta which they lost 2-1. Krishanu Dey was the lone scorer for the Blue Tigers.
In the 1950 World Cup held in Brazil, India got a chance to take part in the final competition after three teams from their group in the qualifying stage, Burma (now Myanmar), Philippines and Indonesia decided to pull out of the competition.