FORMER Orlando Pirates striker, Sibusiso “Rhee” Zuma, has urged the club’s management to do everything possible to keep the coach, Abdeslam Ouaddou, who is one of those who brought success to the club.
Ouaddou (47) joined Pirates at the beginning of last season from Marumo Gallants, and he made a name for himself among the fans of this team in his first season by winning three titles for them namely MTN8, Carling Knockout, and the Betway Premiership league.
By winning the league, the Moroccan coach ended the 14-year drought of not winning this title for this team from Soweto.
He took over from Jose Riveiro who left Pirates at the end of the 2024/2025 season having won five titles for the team, but ended up not being able to win it in the league.
However, after Zimnyama was anointed as the 2025/2026 Betway Premiership champions, Ouaddou raised questions about his future in this team, stating that he will still need to discuss his future with the management.
The success of this coach in Pirates is no question that it has made him become meat in different teams, including those in North Africa where he comes from. This also happened to Rivero who left Zimnyama and joined Al Ahly in Egypt.
“We don’t know the situation he is facing (about his future at Pirates). It could be a contract, it could be many different things that we don’t know about,” said Zuma.
“What I can say is that it is very difficult to win the league title, so you can’t just let go of someone who just won the league for you. It takes time to win the league but Ouaddou did it in one season.
So the Pirates have a high quality coach with Ouaddou who succeeded in taking over where Riverio left off.
Therefore, the team managers should do everything possible to keep him, even if it is said that they have to spend a lot of money to pay him.”
A lot of attention is being paid to the Blacks next season, especially in terms of the Caf Champions League which is the title they have tried to win many times since they were the first South African team to win it in 1995.