Orlando Pirates News Today: Cardoso takes swipe at Appollis’ PSL award, transfer news & more

Latest Orlando Pirates news, as Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso questions Oswin Appollis’ PSL award and die-hard Buccaneers supporter reveals the secret behind The Ghost’s stadium-filling power.

Cardoso questions Appollis’ PSL award

Mamelodi Sundowns coach Miguel Cardoso has taken aim at the PSL awards, expressing surprise that his star midfielder Marcelo Allende has been overlooked for recognition while suggesting Orlando Pirates winger Oswin Appollis should not have won the 2025/26 Midfielder of the Season award.

Appollis claimed the honour after a series of impressive performances for the Buccaneers last season, but Cardoso feels the Chilean playmaker has been consistently underrated in South African football.

Allende has been in scintillating form early in the 2026/27 campaign, collecting back-to-back Man of the Match awards after starring in Sundowns’ 2-0 Betway Premiership win over Marumo Gallants and their 3-2 MTN8 semi-final second-leg victory over Golden Arrows at King Zwelithini Stadium.

The 27-year-old has featured in all seven of Sundowns’ matches this season, starting and completing six of them.

Miguel Cardoso surprised Marcelo Allende has not been given Midfielder of the Season award that went to a winger last season.

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“For me, it’s a very surprising thing that Marcelo is performing consistently in South Africa for so many years and still has not received an award for Midfielder of the Season, especially when we see a winger receiving that trophy,” Cardoso told the media as per FARPost.

“I have said it many times, I think South Africa doesn’t really understand the man that is here and the player that is here. I don’t know when he will go away, but one day he will go for sure. South Africa will miss him because he is a hell of a player,” Cardoso added.

Orlando Pirates’ stadium-filling secret

Orlando Pirates die-hard supporter Jwara-Bucs has lifted the lid on how the Buccaneers’ fanbase, known as The Ghost, manage to fill virtually every stadium their beloved club plays in — and he had a pointed message for Mamelodi Sundowns ahead of the MTN8 final.

According to the prominent fan figure, the secret lies in the communication and coordination between the club’s supporters’ branches across South Africa’s nine provinces.

“Our membership is growing every day; we just welcomed the Nongoma Supporters Branch, and we were launching it officially. People are leaving their favourite teams because of the love we are showing them,” Jwara-Bucs told KickOff.

“When we visit fellow branches, we remind them how important it is for our team to have us as player-number 12 so that wherever the team goes, our players feel like they have never left the Orlando Amstel Arena.”