Angola national football team

Angola

Nickname(s)	Palancas Negras (The Sable Antelopes)
Association	Federação Angolana de Futebol
Sub-confederation	COSAFA (Southern Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Lito Vidigal
Captain	Kali
Top scorer	Akwá (37)
Home stadium	Estádio 11 de Novembro
FIFA code	ANG
FIFA ranking	85
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)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Angola 1–0 Cuba (Angola; 1 June 1977)
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	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.

Honours

• COSAFA Cup: 3

1999, 2001, 2004

• Central African Games runners-up: 1

1987

• African Nations Championship runners-up: 1

2011

History

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.

2006 FIFA World Cup

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.

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

2010 World Cup failure

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.

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 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.

Competition record

World Cup record

See also: Angola at the FIFA World Cup

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

Africa Cup of Nations record

African Cup of Nations
Titles: 0 Appearances: 5
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

Latest Games

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

Current squad

The squad has been selected for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

Caps and goals updated as at 26 January 2012.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Wilson 22 July 1984 (1984-07-22) 5 0 1º de Agosto 13 GK Carlos 8 December 1979 (1979-12-08) 14 0 Unattached 22 GK Hugo Marques 15 January 1986 (1986-01-15) 1 0 Kabuscorp 2 DF Marco Airosa 6 August 1984 (1984-08-06) 18 0 AEL Limassol 4 DF Dani Massunguna 1 May 1986 (1986-05-01) 11 0 1º de Agosto 5 DF Kali 11 October 1978 (1978-10-11) 59 0 1º de Agosto 10 DF Zuela 3 August 1983 (1983-08-03) 14 0 Atromitos 14 DF Amaro 12 November 1986 (1986-11-12) 14 0 1º de Agosto 15 DF Miguel 17 November 1991 (1991-11-17) 2 0 Petro Luanda 21 DF Mingo Bile 15 June 1987 (1987-06-15) 8 0 1º de Agosto 3 MF Osório 24 July 1981 (1981-07-24) 4 0 Caála 6 MF Dédé 4 July 1981 (1981-07-04) 21 0 AEL Limassol 8 MF André Macanga 14 May 1978 (1978-05-14) 57 2 Al Jahra 11 MF Gilberto 21 September 1982 (1982-09-21) 57 7 AEL Limassol 12 MF Jaime 21 May 1982 (1982-05-21) 1 0 Progresso do Sambizanga 7 FW Djalma 30 May 1987 (1987-05-30) 21 1 Porto 9 FW Manucho 7 March 1983 (1983-03-07) 34 17 Real Valladolid 16 FW Flávio 30 December 1979 (1979-12-30) 64 25 Lierse 17 FW Mateus 18 January 1984 (1984-01-18) 28 6 Nacional 18 FW Love 14 March 1979 (1979-03-14) 50 7 Petro Luanda 19 FW Nando Rafael 10 January 1984 (1984-01-10) 1 0 Augsburg 20 FW Manucho Barros 19 April 1986 (1986-04-19) 1 0 InterClube 23 FW José Pierre Vunguidica 3 January 1990 (1990-01-03) 10 0 Preußen Münster

Recent callups

Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club Latest Call-up GK Adilson 6 September 1982 (1982-09-06) 0 0 ASA vs Guinea-Bissau, 8 October 2011 DF Fabrício 20 September 1988 (1988-09-20) 1 0 InterClube vs Guinea-Bissau, 8 October 2011 DF Enoque 16 August 1987 (1987-08-16) 9 0 C.R.D. Libolo vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 DF Bastos 23 November 1991 (1991-11-23) 2 0 Petro Luanda vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 DF Jorge Vidigal 29 January 1978 (1978-01-29) 1 0 Caála vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 MF Tiquinho 14 July 1985 (1985-07-14) 2 0 Unattached vs Guinea-Bissau, 8 October 2011 MF Geraldo 23 November 1991 (1991-11-23) 4 0 Coritiba vs Guinea-Bissau, 8 October 2011 MF Adawá 19 October 1988 (1988-10-19) 6 0 C.R.D. Libolo vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 MF Hugo 27 July 1979 (1979-07-27) 5 0 Kabuscorp vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 MF Nuno 6 August 1983 (1983-08-06) 2 0 Petro Luanda vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011 FW João Martins 20 June 1982 (1982-06-20) 2 1 1º de Agosto vs Guinea-Bissau, 8 October 2011 FW José Pereira 18 April 1985 (1985-04-18) 1 0 SuperSport vs Congo DR, 27 August 2011

External links

• Federação Angolana de Futebol