Angola

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, Flávio Amado 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 (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.