Angola was the team that rose the most in the FIFA rankings in 2024
Palancas Negras started the year in 117th place and finished in 85th thanks to an unbeaten qualification for the African Nations Championship
Pedro Gonçalves’ work leading the Angolan national team has been widely recognised, especially when he qualified for the African Nations Championship without much difficulty and with the first victory in history in Ghana. And now it has been translated into numbers, with the Palancas Negras being the team that has risen the most in the FIFA rankings in 2024.
Angola started the year in 117th place, but with a clean path and no defeats in qualifying for CAN 2024, it ended in 85th place.
Pedro Gonçalves’ team, which at one point even reached 82nd place in the FIFA rankings, has been evolving and remains stable, being the African team that has maintained its coach for the longest time.
In a recent interview with A Bola, Pedro Gonçalves made it clear that his “greatest ambition is to take Angola to a World Cup”, something that has only happened once in the history of the Portuguese-speaking country, in 2006, in Germany, having played and lost to Portugal 0-1 in the group stage , with a goal by Pauleta after just 4 minutes.
