The Australian national under-23 team made its international debut in 1967, when it took part in a triangular tournament against New Caledonia and New Zealand in Nouméa.

The second match was played against the League of Ireland XI, and ended in a 2–2 draw, with goals from Gary Hasler and John Gibson.

[3] Arguably Australia's most successful Olympic football tournament, the squad coached by Eddie Thomson contained just two overseas based players: KV Mechelen striker Zlatko Arambasic and Club Brugge midfielder Paul Okon, as the rest of the squad hailed from NSL clubs.

The squad saw Mark Bosnich, John Filan, Tony Vidmar and Tony Popovic, and most importantly, Ned Zelic, who had virtually single-handedly gotten the Olyroos to Barcelona with a sensational double strike in the second leg play off against the much admired Dutch team, take part before commencing their successful careers in Europe.

[4] John Filan was eventually dropped after this game after coming under heavy criticism for failing to put up a wall for Ghana's first goal, and the ever green Mark Bosnich was brought in, cementing his spot in the side for the Olympics.

Two days later in Barcelona, Zlatko Arambasic opened the scoring after 20 minutes as Australia lead Mexico 1–0 until the 63rd minute when Jorge Castañeda leveled the tie at 1–1, the game would finish this way which meant that Australia would need to win their last group stage game to proceed to the knock-out stages.

[5] The Olyroos finally put in a performance worthy of note as the entire team began to fire on all cylinders, winning 3–0 against Denmark to book a spot in the quarter-finals.

[7] At the Camp Nou in front of 45,000 spectators, Poland struck on 27 minutes, taking the lead after a goal from Wojciech Kowalczyk.

[8] In the bronze medal game, Australia would meet up with group stage outfit Ghana, who took the lead when Isaac Asare scored after 19 minutes and eventually winning the game 1–0, the result left the Olyroos to claim fourth spot at the tournament, as Spain would finish in first place after beating Poland 3–2.

A young Mark Viduka was in his second year at Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and Kevin Muscat had just signed with English Premier League club Crystal Palace.

[12] In a full-strength side, which included Stan Lazaridis, Josip Skoko and Mark Viduka as over aged players, under coach Raul Blanco the Olyroos were drawn against Italy, Nigeria and Honduras in Group A.

In front of 93, 252 spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia were defeated 1–0 by an Italian Andrea Pirlo goal after 81 minutes.

Two goals in the space of just four minutes from Hayden Foxe and Kasey Wehrman saw Australia draw level just before half time.

Frank Farina took an 18-man squad which included Millwall's Tim Cahill, Osasuna's striker John Aloisi and Rangers' defender Craig Moore as over aged players.

Midfielder Kristian Sarkies became the first player to score a hat-trick for the Under-23's in the Asian competition and Australia won the home tie 11–0.

The decisive match was held in Gosford on 17 November 2007 and saw the Olyroos emerging as 2–0 winners thanks to goal from Adrian Leijer and Mark Milligan.

The following 1–1 draw against North Korea in Pyongyang sealed Australia's qualification for Beijing, as they finished as group winners with 12 points, one more than Iraq.

Shanghai was the venue of Australia's first group stage clash against Serbia, which saw them go in front after 69 minutes thanks to a Ruben Zadkovich goal.

The full strength Argentina side, a team that included Roman Riquelme, Sergio Agüero and Lionel Messi, took out the game at 1–0 which left Australia in a must-win situation against the Ivory Coast.

[22] Under coach Aurelio Vidmar, Australia commenced their qualification for the 2012 London Olympic soccer tournament in the second round of qualification where they faced Yemen in a two-game series, the first on 19 June 2011 at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford and the second on 23 June at Newcastle International Sports Centre in Newcastle.

[25] Australia then nearly held on for a draw to Spain however conceded a goal scored by Mikel Oyarzabal in the 81st minute, ending the game with a 1–0 loss.

Wins over Indonesia, Macau and Timor-Leste, a draw with Singapore and a heavy loss to Japan left Australia in second place in the group.

A 1–0 loss to United Arab Emirates followed by a 2–0 win over Vietnam meant that Australia needed to defeat Jordan in the final group match.

[30] The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up would qualify for the final tournament held in Thailand in 2020 so Australia needed to ensure they did not lose in the third match against South Korea.

The Koreans won the match 2–0 with both goals coming in the second half sending Australia into a third place playoff with defending champions Uzbekistan for the final AFC qualification spot for the 2020 Olympics.

[35] Australia defeated Uzbekistan 1–0 at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok to claim third-place, their best ever finish in the tournament, which also qualified them for the Summer Olympics for the first time since 2008.

During the match, Australia went down to ten men for the third time in the tournament after Jay Rich-Baghuelou received a red card in the 35th minute.

The Olyroos then suffered its most shocking defeat so far, losing to Indonesia 1–0 in a match where Mohamed Toure could not convert a penalty earlier on before conceding a goal from Komang Teguh.

The following table shows Australia men's national under-23 soccer team's head-to-head record in the Football at the Summer Olympics and AFC U-23 Asian Cup.