Orlando Pirates shook the South African football scene on Monday by appointing Abdeslam Ouaddou as their new head coach.
Fresh off his resignation from Marumo Gallants, Ouaddou’s arrival at Pirates caught many by surprise.
While Ouaddou’s coaching skills were never in question—he had been linked with Pirates before and last season guided Gallants from the relegation zone to a 10th-place finish, even beating both Pirates and their rivals Kaizer Chiefs—the real shock was that Rulani Mokwena was widely expected to take the job.
Just a day earlier, reports suggested Mokwena and Pirates were close to finalizing a deal. Then Pirates dropped the Ouaddou bombshell, stunning the football community. Now, contract details for the Moroccan coach have surfaced, according to Soccer-Laduma sources.
The deal is reportedly a three-year contract, running from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2028—matching the standard length for recent Pirates coaches like Jose Riveiro, Micho Milutin Sredojevic, and Ruud Krol.
Ouaddou joins Pirates following a very public resignation from Marumo Gallants, including an open letter explaining his decision. He revealed that Gallants’ owner admitted they couldn’t afford his salary for a contract renewal.
