| Nickname(s) | Palancas Negras (The Sable Antelopes) |
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| Association | Federação Angolana de Futebol | ||
| Sub-confederation | COSAFA (Southern Africa) |
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| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Head coach | Lito Vidigal | ||
| Captain | Kali | ||
| Top scorer | Akwá (37) | ||
| Home stadium | Estádio 11 de Novembro | ||
| FIFA code | ANG | ||
| FIFA ranking | 83 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 45 (July 2000) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 124 (March 1994) | ||
| Elo ranking | 85 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 50 (Sept–Oct 2006) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 101 (October 1994) | ||
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| First international | |||
| Angola 1–0 Cuba (Angola; 1 June 1977) |
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| Biggest win | |||
| Angola 7–1 Swaziland (Luanda, Angola; 23 April 2000) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Portugal 6–0 Angola (Lisbon, Portugal; 23 March 1989) |
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| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (First in 2006) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 2006 | ||
| Africa Cup of Nations | |||
| Appearances | 5 (First in 1996) | ||
| Best result | Quarter-finals, 2008, 2010 | ||
The Angola national football team, nicknamed Palancas Negras (Sable Antelopes), is the national team of Angola and is controlled by the Federação Angolana de Futebol. Angola reached 45th in the FIFA Rankings in July 2002. Their greatest accomplishment was qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, as this was their first appearance on the World Cup finals stage: they were eliminated after one defeat and two draws in the group stage.
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Angola played their first game against Cuba national football team in 1977, winning 1–0.
Angola qualified for their first African 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 Côte d'Ivoire.
After missing the last 3 tournaments, they qualified for the 2006 African Nations Cup. They recorded their fist 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.
Angola qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after only losing one game in the qualifying 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 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.
After the 2006 FIFA 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 FIFA 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.
As hosts of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Angola were seeded in Group A along with Mali, Algeria, and Malawi. Coached by Manuel Jose, in their first game they drew 4–4 with Mali, after letting a 4 goal lead slip in the last 11 minutes. They beat 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 Ghana.
| FIFA World Cup record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 1930 to 1982 |
Did not enter | |||||||
| 1986 to 2002 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
| 2006 | Group Stage | 23rd | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | Did not qualify | |||||||
| 2014 | To Be Determined | |||||||
| 2018 | ||||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||
| Total | Group Stage | 1/19 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| African Cup of Nations | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titles: 0 Appearances: 5 |
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| Year | Position | Year | Position | Year | Position | ||||
| 1957 | Did not enter | 1976 | Did not enter | 1994 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 1959 | Did not enter | 1978 | Did not enter | 1996 | Round 1 | ||||
| 1962 | Did not enter | 1980 | Did not enter | 1998 | Round 1 | ||||
| 1963 | Did not enter | 1982 | Did not qualify | 2000 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 1965 | Did not enter | 1984 | Did not qualify | 2002 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 1968 | Did not enter | 1986 | Did not enter | 2004 | Did not qualify | ||||
| 1970 | Did not enter | 1988 | Did not qualify | 2006 | Round 1 | ||||
| 1972 | Did not enter | 1990 | Did not qualify | 2008 | Quarterfinals | ||||
| 1974 | Did not enter | 1992 | Did not qualify | 2010 | Quarterfinals | ||||
| Date | Tournament | Angola | Opponent | Result | Scorers (For Angola) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 January 2011 | Friendly | Angola | Iran | 0:1 | |
| 4 January 2011 | Friendly | Angola | Saudi Arabia | 0:0 | |
| 26 March 2011 | Continental Qualifier | Angola | Kenya | 1:2 | |
| 5 June 2011 | Continental Qualifier | Angola | Kenya | 1:0 | |
| 10 August 2011 | Angola | Liberia | 0:0 | ||
| 27 August 2011 | Angola | Congo DR | 1:2 | ||
| 4 September 2011 | Continental Qualifier | Angola | Uganda | 2:0 | |
| 8 October 2011 | Continental Qualifier | Angola | Guinea-Bissau | 2:0 | |
| 10 November 2011 | Taça Independência Angola | Angola | Sporting Lisbon | 4:0 |
The following 26-man squad was selected for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Guinea-Bissau on 8 October 2011.
Caps and goals updated as at 14 October 2011.
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