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Head coach Aliou Cisse during a press conference in Tripoli on March 13, 2025. [AFP]
The Angolan football federation said Thursday it had hired Senegalese Africa Cup of Nations winner Aliou Cisse as the new head coach of the national team.
Cisse, a former international defender who captained Senegal’s Lions of Teranga to the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, stepped down as Libya coach on Wednesday after just 10 matches in charge.
“Today is a day of renewal, a day on which we rekindle hope and reaffirm with conviction our ambition for the future of national football,” president of the Angolan Football Federation, Alves Simoes, said at a ceremony to unveil Cisse in the capital Luanda.
The 50-year-old has signed a four-year contract.
The appointment was a vision for long-term development and sustained success in Angolan football, Simoes said.
“It symbolises our firm commitment to competence, innovation and the ability to build a team that brings pride to our country.”
Cisse was head coach of his native Senegal for almost 10 years from 2015 until 2024, leading them to their first ever Africa Cup of Nations title in 2021, after losing the 2019 final.
Angola topped their qualifying group to reach the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, but their finals campaign ended in disappointment.
They finished third in Group B behind Egypt and South Africa, collecting just two points, and were edged out by Tanzania on goals scored for one of the four best third‑placed spots.
The farthest Angola has ever got in the AFCON is the quarter-finals in 2008 and 2010 and they also qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, their only appearance at football’s global showpiece.
The team, nicknamed Palancas Negras, meaning the black antelopes, is ranked 89th in the world.Â