[12] 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.

[13] With the advent of cheap air travel, Australia began to diversify its range of opponents,[9] but its geographical isolation continued to play a role in its destiny for the next 30 years.

[15] 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.

The team's previously poor record in World Cup competition was not reflected in their reasonable performances against strong European and South American sides.

[16][17] 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.

[18] 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.

[19] Australia defeated England 3–1 at West Ham United's Boleyn Ground in 2003 as Wayne Rooney made his international debut.

[21] Many commentators and fans, including soccer broadcaster and former Australian captain Johnny Warren, felt that the only way for Australia to progress was to abandon Oceania.

[28] 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.

The final score (2–2) was enough to see Australia proceed to the round of 16, where they were eliminated from the competition after a 1–0 defeat by the eventual champions Italy after conceding a controversial penalty in the 93rd minute.

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.

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 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.

Verbeek received heavy criticism for his tactics,[38] with SBS (Australia's World Cup broadcaster) chief soccer analyst Craig Foster calling for his immediate sacking.

[48] Shortly after achieving qualification to the World Cup, Australia played a series of friendly matches against Brazil and France, suffering consecutive 6–0 defeats.

[50] 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.

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.

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.

[58][59] After Australia qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in November 2017, Ange Postecoglou resigned from his position as coach;[60] and former manager of the Netherlands national team, Bert van Marwijk, was subsequently appointed as his replacement.

The Socceroos' first group match against eventual world champions France was praised by a valiant effort, in which Australia only lost 1–2 by a virtual own goal from Aziz Behich.

[72] 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.

[73] 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.

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.

Mass celebrations occurred after the upsets over Tunisia and Denmark, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the achievement "magnificent".

[84][85][86] 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.

[95] 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.

[104][105] This kit was met with wide public contention, primarily due to the colour change of the shorts from the traditional green to yellow.

[121] AAS, then known as Socceroos Active Support (SAS), was founded in January 2015 as an independent group,[122] who uses social media to organise and keep in touch.

[125] 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.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following 25 players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on 14 and 19 November 2024, respectively.