Rafael Nando is one of Angola's leading footballers and plays for Germany's Hertha Berlin

Angolan football officials have confirmed Luis Oliveira Goncalves as the country's national coach.

Goncalves has been handed a contract that runs until the middle of 2006, football officials in the Angolan capital Luanda announced on Monday.

The Angolan had been in temporary charge of the Palancas Negras as they played the second leg of their preliminary 2006 World Cup and Nations Cup qualifier against Chad in November.

Angola won 2-0 at home to qualify on away goals for the group qualification stages following their 3-1 away defeat in N'Djamena one month earlier.

Goncalves was named as the new coach of Angola in October, but only now have Angolan officials confirmed the former youth coach as taking the job on a permanent basis.

Goncalves steps up from coaching Angola's under-20 and under-23 teams, having guided Angola to the African youth title in 2001.

In that same year, the manager also led Angola to the quarter-finals of the World Youth Championship in Argentina.

Earlier this month, Angola were drawn in Group Four of the 2006 World Cup and Nations Cup qualifiers alongside Nigeria, Algeria, Gabon, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.