From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match5 Oct 2026
20 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match3 Oct 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Sipho Mbule will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Orlando Pirates escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Match3 Oct 2026
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Oswin Appollis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
141% of the income goes out in wages at Orlando Pirates
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.73, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Sep 2026
7 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Oswin Appollis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sofiane Boufal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Oswin Appollis was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.56, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Sep 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 48 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match19 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Orlando Pirates have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Relebohile Mofokeng did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market21 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orlando Pirates they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ntokozo Dlamini is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Polokwane City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.60 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orlando Pirates lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Platinum Stars, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Relebohile Mofokeng, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.57
A mark of 8.57 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Sep 2026
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Daylon Claasen, 36, rolls back the years — 7.92
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 3‑2 win over Mamelodi Sundowns, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oswin Appollis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orlando Pirates lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Deon Hotto for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Orlando Pirates will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Sofiane Boufal, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Orlando Pirates have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orlando Pirates lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Evidence Makgopa takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Evidence Makgopa provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orlando Pirates can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Oswin Appollis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evidence Makgopa. 2‑1 against Bidvest Wits, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nkosinathi Sibisi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamogelo Sebelebele, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Orlando Pirates lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.66 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Oswin Appollis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $2.6M sale of Simphiwe Selepe
He is going to Aris Thessaloniki, the club has $2.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Oswin Appollis was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Deon Hotto falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match15 Aug 2026
Free State Stars left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Relebohile Mofokeng, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from San Diego Football Club for Evidence Makgopa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
50 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oswin Appollis and Orlando Pirates agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Thalente Mbatha was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Orlando Pirates
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Percy Hlatshwayo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rivaldo Mokoena has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bradley Modiba has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Orlando Pirates did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Deon Hotto commits to Orlando Pirates for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Oswin Appollis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.