Angola national football team


The Angola national football team represents Angola in men's international football and it is controlled by the Angolan Football Federation, The team made its first appearance in 2006 FIFA World Cup, the team's nickname is Palancas Negras, The team is governing body of Football in Angola in the country, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football.
Angola reached its highest FIFA ranking, 45th place, in July 2000. Their greatest accomplishment was qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, as this was their first appearance on the World Cup finals stage.

History

Angola played their first game against Congo on 8 February 1976, losing 3–2. On 26 June 1977, Cuba became Angola's first non-African opponent when the two countries met in Angola, with Angola winning 1-0. Angola entered World Cup qualifying for the first time in the 1986 qualifying competition. Angola defeated Senegal on penalties in the first round before narrowly losing to Algeria 3-2 on aggregate in the second round.
Angola qualified for their first Africa Cup of Nations in 1996. They were drawn in Group A with South Africa, Egypt and Cameroon. They lost their first two games to Egypt and South Africa, but managed a 3–3 draw against Cameroon. They finished bottom of the group and did not reach the second round. Angola then qualified for their second successive African Cup of Nations in 1998, but again failed to reach the second round, drawing 0–0 with South Africa and 3–3 with Namibia, and losing 5–2 to Ivory Coast.
After missing the last 3 tournaments, they qualified for the 2006 African Nations Cup. They recorded their first African Cup of Nations win against Togo, winning 3–2, two goals coming from Flávio and the other coming from Maurito. They also drew 0–0 against Congo DR and lost 3–1 against Cameroon. Angola's best performance then came in the 2008 African Nations Cup. They were drawn in Group D with Tunisia, South Africa and Senegal. They drew 1–1 and 0–0 with South Africa and Tunisia, then defeated Senegal 3–1, two goals coming from Manucho. In the quarter-finals they were beaten by eventual winners Egypt 2–1, but Manucho scored again, finishing with four goals in total.
Angola also won the COSAFA Cup in 1999, 2001 and 2004.

2006 FIFA World Cup

Angola qualified for the 2006 World Cup after only losing one game in the qualifiers ahead of favourites Nigeria.
When picking the squad, Gonçalves sought advice from Chelsea manager José Mourinho, whose wife was born in Angola. Angola's Golden Generation saw players like Akwá, João Ricardo, Paulo Figueiredo and Jamba selected to go to the World Cup. Angola played six warm-up games against South Korea, Mauritius, Lesotho, Argentina, Turkey and USA.
Angola played their first World Cup finals game against the Portuguese side, who won the match 1–0, the only goal coming from Pauleta. There was a very friendly environment in and around the stadium during this match because of the links and friendship between the countries of Angola and Portugal. Angola drew 0–0 in their second game with Mexico, and still had a chance of qualifying for the second round had they beaten Iran in their final group game, but the match finished 1–1 after goals by Flávio and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh. Angola were eliminated from the tournament only losing one game.

2010 World Cup failure

After the 2006 World Cup, many of Angola's most experienced players such as Akwá and João Ricardo retired from the international game, but the expectation was still high for the team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team had a bye through the first round of qualification and in the second round they were drawn in Group 3 along with Benin, Uganda and Niger. Despite winning their first two matches, Angola failed to proceed to the third round, missing out by two points.

2010 Africa Cup of Nations

As hosts of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Angola were seeded in Group A along with Mali, Algeria, and Malawi. Coached by Manuel José, in their first game they drew 4–4 with Mali, after letting a 4–0 lead slip in the last 11 minutes. They recovered from this by beating Malawi 2–0 in the second match, and topped the group by drawing 0–0 with Algeria. They were knocked out in the quarter final after a 1–0 defeat by eventual finalists Ghana.

Achievements

World Cup record

As of 2018, Angola has qualified once for a FIFA World Cup. Its first participation in the World Cup qualifiers was in 1986, where they won in the first round, beating Senegal 4−3 on penalty kicks. They later lost in the second round of the 1986 World Cup qualifiers to Algeria. Algeria went to the third round and qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Angola's first participation in the World Cup was in the 2006 World Cup, in Germany.

Africa Cup of Nations record

African Nations Championship record

COSAFA Cup

Recent schedule and results

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2019

2020

Kit history

Kit manufacturer

Players

Current squad

The following players have been selected for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification against Gambia and Gabon on 13 and 17 November 2019 respectively.

''Caps and goals as of 17 November 2019 after the game against Gabon.

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Angola squad within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.
DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up.

INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.

PRE Preliminary squad.

RET Player has retired from international football.

''SUS Suspended from the national team.

Previous squads

FIFA World Cup
Africa Cup of Nations

Most capped players

#NameInternational CareerCapsGoals
1.Flávio2000–20129134
2.Gilberto1999–20158910
3.Love Cabungula2001–20167911
4.Akwá1995–20067839
5.Yamba Asha2000–2009771
6.Kali2003–2011730
7.André Macanga1999–2012702
8.Mateus2006–6712
9.Job2007–647
10.António Neto1992–2001591

Top goalscorers

#NameInternational CareerGoalsCaps
1.Akwá1995–20063978
2.Flávio2000–20123491
3.Manucho2006–20172253
4.Paulão1993–20011952
5.Jesus1979–19901848
6.Mateus2006–1265
7.Love Cabungula2001–20161179
7.Gelson2015–1127
9.Gilberto1999–20151089
10.Ndunguidi1978–1991944