Nicknamed Palancas Negras (Black Sable antelopes), the team is a member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

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.

In the quarter-finals they were beaten by eventual winners Egypt 2–1, but Manucho scored again, finishing with four goals in total.

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.

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).

The following players were selected for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Ghana and Sudan on 15 and 18 November 2024 respectively.