Orlando Pirates News Today: Ouaddou ‘needing balls’, transfer updates & more

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Orlando Pirates News Today: Ouaddou ‘needing balls’, transfer updates & more

Latest Orlando Pirates news in the last 24 hours including Abdeslam Ouaddou explaining needing balls to take over at Bucs, Sebastien Pedersen updates, and more.

Ouaddou explaining ‘needing balls’ at Bucs

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou says he will not be diplomatic about his 2026/27 season intentions, asserting that, unlike other coaches who prefer not to take a stand, he will openly declare his intent to fight to defend the Premier Soccer League title and win the CAF Champions League.

The former Morocco international guided the Buccaneers to their first league title in 14 years last season, making them the team to beat this season. It was a campaign in which they sealed a treble by also clinching the MTN8 and Carling Knockout. 

“I think it gives us motivation. It’s one of the intrinsic motivations when you know that you have been chased and people want to beat you. I think first of all it’s good for us for the motivation,” Ouaddou said in a presser.

“But more than that, what brings interest in the league is not to know who is going to win the league at the beginning of the season. It’s what brings people to the stadium; it’s what gives people interest in watching the game on TV. But if you come already knowing who is the champion, it doesn’t make sense. That’s what I said to the guys last season. It’s not easy because people thought that I was arrogant.

“In the first training session that I conducted in Spain [during pre-season], I told them [players] that this season we need to win the league. I know many coaches come here and they are cautious,” the ex-footballer who featured in four AFCON finals went on.

“They say, ‘Yeah, but I need players; no, I need time.’ But sometimes you need to, excuse me for using these words, but you need balls to say, ‘Yeah I’m coming here, and I want to win the league.’

Abdeslam Ouaddou
Abdeslam Ouaddou, Image: Orlando Pirates

“So, yeah, it creates interest, and this season again we want to win the league. It will not be easy. I’m not saying we are going to win, but we want to do everything to win, and we are doing everything to win the Champions League.

“So if you come here and you play small and you protect yourself, what are you going to protect yourself [with]? It means if you lose two or three games, you go out. Or four games, you are sacked. So be ambitious with your players and give them hope,” Ouaddou concluded.

Ex-Chiefs coach wary of Pirates fixtures

Sekhukhune United head coach Cedric Kaze says it’s a mountain to climb for the club facing last season’s treble winners, Orlando Pirates, three times in seven days.

With a two-legged MTN8 semi-final sandwiched with a league outing on Tuesday – the in-form Babina Noko have ambitions of their own this season under the new leadership of the Burundian.

“It’s a very big week for us, playing the same team three times, maybe the fans of football get a bonus, three times in one week,” he said in the pre-match presser.

“We have to manage them well, starting with the first leg, against the defending champions, four times in a row, we know how big the mountain is we need to climb but we are preparing ourselves, we want to compete, starting on Saturday, we need to be at our best show our intentions.

Sekhukhune United coach Cedric Kaze.
Sekhukhune United coach Cedric Kaze.

“We have to apply our minds, have a clear plan, that’s what will take us through the first game then we start preparing for the second game.

“The game is one half, there’s a second half next week and the league game on Tuesday is once off, it’s not a knockout game, but an away game, the fourth game of the league, and there are 26 games after that,” he concluded.

Pedersen to make his debut this weekend?

The wait for Sebastian Pedersen’s Orlando Pirates debut could finally be coming to an end, with indications that the Norwegian striker is edging closer to being considered for competitive action.

Pedersen has yet to make his official debut since joining the Buccaneers from Sogndal Fotball.

That patience has been understandable, particularly after Ouaddou previously made it clear that he did not want to rush the 27-year-old into action before he was physically and mentally ready for the demands of playing for Pirates.

The coach explained that Pedersen was still below the required level of fitness and that the club’s performance department was working closely with him to get him up to speed.

There has also been an adjustment period for the striker following his move from Norway, with the Pirates technical team mindful of the demands of adapting to a new country, new teammates and a different footballing environment.

Orlando Pirates new striker Sebastian Pedersen.
Orlando Pirates new striker Sebastian Pedersen. Image: Orlando Pirates

However, the latest indications are that Pedersen is making progress.

The striker has continued training with the group and, with every session, has had more opportunity to understand Ouaddou’s tactical demands, the movements of his teammates and the intensity expected at Pirates.

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Willis Sob

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Willis Sob is a sports betting expert and journalist covering Nigeria and South Africa, with 16 years of experience. With a background in journalism, reporting and programme production, he specialises in football odds, and his work has appeared on OK Africa and GOAL, as well as TV, radio and podcasts.

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