Angola national football team

The Angola national football team (Portuguese: Seleção nacional de futebol de Angola) represents Angola in men's international football and 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 (CAF).

Angola

Nickname(s)	Palancas Negras (Giant sable antelopes)
Association	Angolan Football Federation
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	COSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coach	Pedro Gonçalves
Captain	Djalma Campos
Most caps	Flávio (91)
Top scorer	Akwá (39)
Home stadium	Estádio 11 de Novembro
FIFA code	ANG
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	125 (10 December 2020)[1]
Highest	45 (July 2000)
Lowest	147 (March 2017)
First international
Congo 3–2 Angola (Brazzaville, Congo; 8 February 1976)
Biggest win
Angola 7–1 Swaziland  (Luanda, Angola; 23 April 2000)
Biggest defeat
Portugal 6–0 Angola (Lisbon, Portugal; 23 March 1989)
World Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 2006)
Best result	Group stage, 2006
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	8 (first in 1996)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2008, 2010)

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4][5]

Fans of the Angolan national football team in Cologne, Germany.

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 (including three goals in stoppage time). 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

Angola lining-up before a friendly match in 2014

• COSAFA Cup: 3

1999, 2001, 2004

• Central African Games runners-up: 1

1987

• African Nations Championship runners-up: 1

2011

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

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.

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Part of  Portugal									Part of  Portugal
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978	Did not enter									Declined participation
1982
1986	Did not qualify									4	1	1	2	3	4
1990										8	2	3	3	8	8
1994										5	1	2	2	3	4
1998										8	4	4	0	12	5
2002										10	5	4	1	19	10
2006	Group stage	23rd	3	0	2	1	1	2		12	7	3	2	15	9
2010	Did not qualify									6	3	1	2	11	8
2014										6	1	4	1	7	5
2018										2	0	0	2	1	4
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026	To be determined									To be determined
Total	Group stage	1/21	3	0	2	1	1	2		61	24	22	15	79	57

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957	Part of  Portugal
1959
1962
1963
1965
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976	Not affiliated to CAF
1978
1980
1982	Did not qualify
1984
1986	Did not enter
1988	Did not qualify
1990
1992
1994
1996	Group stage	13th	3	0	1	2	4	6
1998	Group stage	13th	3	0	2	1	5	8
2000	Did not qualify
2002
2004
2006	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	4	5
2008	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	5	4
2010	Quarter-finals	5th	4	1	2	1	6	5
2012	Group stage	11th	3	1	1	1	4	5
2013	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	1	4
2015	Did not qualify
2017
2019	Group stage	18th	3	0	2	1	1	2
2021	To be determined
2023
2025
Total	Quarter-finals	8/32	26	4	12	10	30	39

African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2009	Did not qualify
2011	Runners-up	2nd	6	1	4	1	4	6
2014	Did not qualify
2016	Group stage	11th	3	1	0	2	4	6
2018	Quarter-finals	8th	4	1	2	1	2	2
2020	Did not qualify
2022	To be determined
Total	Runners-up	3/6	13	3	6	4	10	14

COSAFA Cup

COSAFA Cup record
Year	Rank	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1997	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1998	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1999	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2001	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2002	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2003	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2004	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2006	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2007	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2008	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2009	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2013	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2015	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2016	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2017	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2018	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0/19	-	-	-	-	-	-

Managerial history

József Szabó (? – ?) Zlatko Škorić (? – ?) Rubén García (? –1988) Carlos Queirós (1988–?) Jesualdo Ferreira (1989) Dušan Kondić (? –1993) Branco Arlindo (1993–?) Carlos Alhinho (1994–1995) Professor Neca (1996–1998) Carlos de Abreu (1998)

Veselin Jelušić (1998) Djalma Cavalcante (1999) Carlos Alhinho (2000) Mário Calado (2000–2001) Ismael Kurtz (2002–2003) Luís Oliveira Gonçalves (2003–2008) Mabi de Almeida (2008–2009) Manuel José (2009–2010) Hervé Renard (2010) Zeca Amaral (2010)

Lito Vidigal (2011–2012) Romeu Filemón (2012) Gustavo Ferrín (2012–2013) Romeu Filemón (2014–2015) José Kilamba (2016–2017) Beto Bianchi (2017–2018) Srđan Vasiljević (2018–2019) Pedro Gonçalves (2019–)

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.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

2020

9 June 2021 AFCONQ

Gambia

Postponed

Angola

8 September 2021 AFCONQ

Angola

Postponed

Gabon

11 October Friendly	Angola	Nulled	Guinea-Bissau	Lisbon, Portugal
		Report

13 October Friendly	Angola	3–0	Mozambique	Rio Maior, Portugal
	Mateus Galiano  44', 77' Gelson Dala  79'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Comunal de Rio Maior
Note: NON FIFA friendly (result will not be applied to ranking points as per exceeding number of substitutions)

14 November 2021 AFCONQ	DR Congo	0–0	Angola	Kinshasa, DR Congo
20:00 UTC+1		Report		Stadium: Stade des Martyrs Referee: Sadok Selmi (Tunisia)
Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 3 and 4 scheduled for March 2020 had been postponed to November 2020.[6]

17 November 2021 AFCONQ	Angola	0–1	DR Congo	Luanda, Angola
17:00 UTC+1		Report	Kebano  64'	Stadium: Estádio 11 de Novembro Referee: Victor Gomes (South Africa)
Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 3 and 4 scheduled for March 2020 had been postponed to November 2020.[7]

2021

22 March 2021 2021 AFCONQ	Gambia	v	Angola	TBD, Gambia
--:-- UTC±0
Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 5 and 6 scheduled for June 2020 had been postponed to March 2021.[8]

30 March 2021 2021 AFCONQ	Angola	v	Gabon	TBD, Angola
--:-- UTC+1
Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 5 and 6 scheduled for June 2020 had been postponed to March 2021.[9]

Kit history

Kit manufacturer

Kit providers	Period
Olympic	1994–1998
Adidas	1998–2002
Devis Sport	2002–2006
Puma	2006–2012
Adidas	2012–2018
Puma	2018–2019
Lacatoni	2019–present

Players

Current squad

The following players have been selected for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Congo DR on 14 and 17 November.[10]
Caps and goals as of 17 November 2020 after the second match against Congo DR.[11]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	António	25 July 1994	10	0	Petro de Luanda
	GK	Hugo Marques	15 January 1986	7	0	Farense
	GK	Neblú	7 December 1993	7	0	1° de Agosto
	GK	Kadú	30 November 1994	0	0	Espinho
	DF	Bastos	23 November 1991	51	2	Al-Ain
	DF	Jonathan Buatu	27 September 1993	16	0	Sint Truiden
	DF	Paízo	10 May 1992	15	0	Unattached
	DF	Diógenes João	1 January 1997	9	0	Petro de Luanda
	DF	Wilson	29 September 1990	7	1	Petro de Luanda
	DF	Núrio Fortuna	24 March 1995	5	0	Gent
	DF	Bruno Gaspar	21 April 1993	5	0	Sporting CP
	DF	Jò	20 September 1991	3	0	Petro de Luanda
	DF	Anderson Lucoqui	6 July 1997	1	0	Arminia Bielefeld
	DF	Inácio Miguel	12 December 1995	1	0	U Cluj
	DF	Jonás Ramalho	10 June 1993	1	0	Girona
	MF	Herenilson	26 August 1996	32	0	1° de Agosto
	MF	Fredy	27 March 1990	28	2	Antalyaspor
	MF	Show	6 March 1999	19	0	Boavista
	MF	Edgar André	28 June 1991	1	0	Sion
	MF	Estrela	22 September 1995	1	0	Unattached
	FW	Mateus	19 June 1984	69	14	Penafiel
	FW	Ary Papel	3 March 1994	38	5	Unattached
	FW	Gelson Dala	13 July 1996	30	12	Rio Ave
	FW	Geraldo	23 November 1991	28	2	Al Ahly
	FW	Vladimiro Vá	24 April 1998	27	2	Pafos
	FW	Mabululu	10 September 1989	15	5	1° de Agosto
	FW	Fábio Abreu	29 January 1993	6	1	Al-Batin
	FW	Milson	12 October 1999	2	0	Maritimo B
	FW	Zini	3 July 2002	0	0	1° de Agosto

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.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	William Salomão	25 April 1997	0	0	Pedras Rubras	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
MF	Panzu Ernesto	3 April 1999	1	0	Hertha Berlin II	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
FW	Zito Luvumbo	9 March 2002	3	0	Cagliari	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
FW	Jérémie Bela	4 August 1993	1	0	Birmingham City	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
FW	Elliot Simões	20 December 1999	1	0	Barnsley	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
FW	Capita	10 January 2002	0	0	Excel Mouscron	v.  Mozambique, 13 October 2020
^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

• 2006 FIFA World Cup squads – Angola

Africa Cup of Nations

• 2019 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 2013 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 2012 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 2010 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 2008 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 2006 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 1998 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola
• 1996 Africa Cup of Nations squads – Angola

Records

Most capped players As of 17 November 2019[12] Players in bold are still active. # Name International Career Caps Goals 1. Flávio 2000–2012 91 34 2. Gilberto 1999–2015 89 10 3. Love Cabungula 2001–2016 79 11 4. Akwá 1995–2006 78 39 5. Yamba Asha 2000–2009 77 1 6. Kali 2003–2011 73 0 7. André Macanga 1999–2012 70 2 8. Mateus 2006– 67 12 9. Job 2007– 64 7 10. António Neto 1992–2001 59 1

Top goalscorers As of 17 November 2019 Players in bold are still active. # Name International Career Goals Caps 1. Akwá 1995–2006 39 78 2. Flávio 2000–2012 34 91 3. Manucho 2006–2017 22 53 4. Paulão 1993–2001 19 52 5. Jesus 1979–1990 18 48 6. Mateus 2006– 12 65 7. Love Cabungula 2001–2016 11 79 Gelson 2015– 11 27 9. Gilberto 1999–2015 10 89 10. Ndunguidi 1978–1991 9 44

See also

• Angola women's national football team
• Angola national under-20 football team
• Angola national under-17 football team
• Angolan Football Federation

References

1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
2. "Angola - List of International Matches". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
3. Brodkin, Jon (12 June 2006). "Figo sparkles as Ronaldo's tricks lead to the bench". Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
4. "Mexico 0–0 Angola". BBC. 16 June 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
5. "Iran 1–1 Angola". BBC. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
6. "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
7. "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
8. "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
9. "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
10. https://faf.co.ao/can-2021-anunciada-a-convocatoria-da-seleccao-nacional-aa/
11. https://africa.espn.com/football/lineups?gameId=588017
12. Roberto Mamrud. "Angola – Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

External links

• Federação Angolana de Futebol
• Angola match records
• Angola team picture during World Cup in 2006