Orlando Pirates News Today: Why Hotto did not face Namibian side, Ouaddou hails unsung heroes & more

Latest Orlando Pirates news, including why Deo Hotto did not play against Namibian side African Stars in the CAF Champions League and coach Abdeslam Ouaddou praises key men who helped his team win.

Ouaddou hails Pirates’ unsung heroes

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has praised his analysts for doing a good job in preparing his side for the CAF Champions League first leg clash against African Stars.

Pirates beat the Namibian side 1-0 on Saturday, thanks to Tshepang Moremi’s second-half goal, and the Moroccan coach is grateful to his analysts for finding out how his team could get a crucial away goal and ensure they kept a clean sheet.

“We started the game exactly like we wanted. We didn’t have any surprises about the opponent,” Ouaddou told the media after the game.

“We had very good information from my analysis department. They did a great job, well done to them. The first half we adapted well to the conditions, the heat. In the first half, we had chances to score earlier to lead with two goals but I have to give credit to the team.

“Defensively, we were strong, again a clean sheet. We went into halftime and the target was to score this away goal,” he added.  

𝑶𝒖𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒐𝒖 𝑷𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝑩𝒐𝒕𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒔, 𝑯𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔 𝑪𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has expressed his gratitude to the club's faithful supporters in Botswana while emphasising… pic.twitter.com/A1Xd5087M7

— FARPost (@FARPostZA) October 17, 2026

“We did it and the boys came with lots of ambitions to score the away goal. We could have scored the second goal but let us be happy we won because we still have the second half in South Africa,” said the Pirates boss.

“I cannot say we have one foot in the group stages because we still have the second leg. We will have to prepare for this in order to go directly to the group stages and it is an important target for the club, coaches and players and we will rest and target to win this [second leg] game.”

Why Hotto did not face Namibian side

Meanwhile, Ouaddou has revealed why he opted to start Namibian legend Deon Hotto on the bench and did not bring him on against the African Stars.

“Hotto is my right-hand man,” said Ouaddou. “He is a captain of the team, an African legend, not just Namibian but an African legend.”

“He is a Moroccan boy, Nigerian boy, South Africa…he belongs to Africa, this boy. Hotto played many games, he is very important to us and we have a lot of fixtures,” he added when explaining the 35-year-old’s absence.

𝗢𝘂𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗼𝘂 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝗼𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained why Deon Hotto did not play against his former club, African Stars, in the CAF Champions League… pic.twitter.com/Rmzs7awNJw

— FARPost (@FARPostZA) October 17, 2026

“We will play the Carling Cup; we will play this second leg and we have the [Soweto] derby. This season, we are going to play nearly 60 games so if you have seen the way I am working, the principal of rotation with the starting XI and impact players.

“Sometimes Hotto is part of the starting XI and today, he was part of the impact players. Unfortunately, the game did not give me the opportunity to bring him but we still have one game left and hopefully, he will be able to bring his experience.”