De la Libye à l’Angola, le rebond express d’Aliou Cissé, nouveau sélectionneur des Palancas negras
Appointed in a surprise move on Thursday as head coach of the Angolan national football team, Aliou Cissé succeeds Patrice Beaumelle on the Palancas Negras bench. Available since leaving Libya, the former Senegal coach will be tasked with revitalizing a team struggling for results ahead of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
On Thursday morning, April 9th, in Luanda, Angolan journalists had come to the press conference expecting to see Jean-Michel Cavalli take his place behind the microphones. For two days, the French coach had been presented as Patrice Beaumelle's successor at the helm of the Palancas. But when the doors opened, it was Aliou Cissé, sporting dreadlocks and a broad smile, who appeared. A stunned silence fell over the room: the former coach of Senegal, fresh from his departure from Libya, had just emerged as the new leader of the Palancas Negras.
Just the day before, Cissé had officially announced on social media the end of his Libyan adventure, which had begun a year earlier. Ten matches, three wins, five draws, two losses, and a sense of unfinished business after failing to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. "I am proud of the work we accomplished together," he wrote, without elaborating on the reasons for his departure. Now a free agent, the 2021 African champion wasted no time in bouncing back.
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Senegalese coach Aliou Cissé is no longer in charge of the Libyan national team.
At 50, the man who spent nearly a decade at the helm of Senegal – two World Cup qualifications, a continental title – remains considered one of the leading figures in Africa. His choice to join Libya, a nation with a modest record, had already raised eyebrows. His decision to take on Angola, a country with strong ambitions but still inconsistent at the highest level, continues this recent, unique trajectory.
“I am very honored to join this great footballing nation. I see Angola as an ambitious country. Together we will write a great story,” Cissé told the Angolan media. The Senegalese coach succeeds Patrice Beaumelle, who was dismissed after a disappointing 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, eliminated in the first round despite reaching the quarterfinals in 2024 in Ivory Coast. The Portuguese national team, unable to replicate their success in Morocco, hopes to find in Cissé the builder capable of establishing consistency within the country.
Cissé will quickly get down to business during the June FIFA window, with a series of friendly matches to assess his squad. His real challenge awaits him in preparing for the qualifiers for the next Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled for 2027 in Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya.
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