Brief History of Orlando Pirates

Orlando Pirates is one of the oldest football clubs in South Africa and is also one of the most successful clubs. The club was launched in the year 1937 as Orlando Boys Club and they were later renamed Orlando Pirates Football Club two years later in the year 1939. Andries ‘Pele Pele’ Mkhwanazi and Bethuel Mokgosinyana are known to be the founding fathers of Orlando Pirates FC, having played instrumental roles in the club’s early existence. Orlando Pirates, which is popularly known as “The Buccaneers” is based in Houghton, Johannesburg and it plays its home matches at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, one of the most iconic stadiums in South Africa.

Orlando Pirates is one of the few South African clubs whose success goes beyond the South African boarders as it is regarded as one of the best football clubs in Africa. While it may be true that Orlando Pirates is no longer the force it used to be in the past, the reality is that it remains one of the best run clubs under the capable leadership of Dr Ivan Khoza who has been at the helm since the 1980s and it is only a matter of time before the Buccaneers rise again to be the best not only in South Africa but in Africa as a whole. The story of Orlando Pirates will never be complete without mentioning Dr Ivan Khoza because the man has made an immense contribution to Pirates because Orlando Pirates became a multi-million rand company under his reign. 

Orlando Pirates Fixtures

Being one of the more popular teams, people are always looking to find the latest Orlando Pirates fixtures. We update the fixtures for Orlando Pirates as soon as we have them and you can see them all below.

Orlando Pirates Players

Orlando Pirates has had some great players playing for them over the years, some of the greats to don the black and white Orlando Pirates jersey are Benni McCarthy, Teko Modise, Jerry Sikhosana, Jomo Sono,  Mark Fish, Oupa Manyisa, Benedict Vilakazi, Sizwe Motaung, Sibusiso Zuma, Siyabonga Nomvethe amongst several others and if you know about South African football, you will agree that these players are some of the best South Africa has ever had. The team has also had a great amount of foreign players who excelled in the league, some of these players include Tendai Ndoro, William Okpara, Isaac Chansa amongst others.

Orlando Pirates Tournament Winnings

Orlando Pirates are the first club since the inception of the SA Premier Soccer League in 1996 to have won three major trophies in a single season back to back, having won the domestic league ABSA Premiership, the FA Cup, Nedbank Cup and the Top 8 Cup MTN 8 during the ABSA Premiership 2010–11 season and domestic league ABSA Premiership, the League Cup Telkom Knockout and the Top 8 Cup MTN 8 during the ABSA Premiership 2011–12 season.

Orlando Pirates is one of the most decorated outfits in the South Africa Premier Soccer League with several trophies to their name. The Bucaneers have won a total of 9 premier league titles and these titles came in the three eras of the league, that is, Premier Soccer League, National Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League. Not only have Orlando Pirates realised success on the league, the club also has a total of 20 Cups to their name, that is , 8 Nedbank cups, 1 Telkom Knockout cup and 11 MTN cups.

Orlando Pirates unounced themselves on the African stage in the year 1995 when they won the African Champions League and that remains their only UCL title, the closest they came after that was in 2013 when they were runners up. They also finished as runners up on two seperate accasions in the CAF Confederation Cup in 2015 and the 2021-22 season.

Top 5 Orlando Pirates players

Orlando Pirates has one of the strongest squads in the South African Premier Soccer League and below is a list of their top 5 players at the moment:

Thembinkosi Lorch

Thembinkosi Lorch is a top South African professional soccer player who plays for Orlando Pirates as an attacking midfielder, the midfield maestro also plays for Bafana Bafana which he has represented on several occasions. Thembinkosi Lorch has been an instrumental figure for Orlando Pirates and the year 2019 was his best season as he was named the South African Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season. Thembinkosi Lorch signed with Orlando Pirates in the year 2015 and he was loaned for the first two seasons but after his loan spells, he has been arguably Orlando Pirates most important player.

Vincent Pule

Maliele Vincent Pule is a South African soccer player who plays for Orlando Pirates and barely plays for the South African national team. Vincent Pule rose to fame when he was turning out for Bidvest Wits from 2014 up to 2018 and his perfomances led Orlando Pirates to sign him from Bidvest Wits in 2018. 

Innocent Maela

Innocent Maela is a South African player who plays for Orlando Pirates and the South African national football team as a defender. Maela joined Orlando Pirates in the year 2017 from Thanda Royal with whom he had made 82 league appearances scoring a total of five goals. Orlando Pirates has leadership qualities and this has seen him being named as the new club captain ahead of the 2022-23 DStv Premiership season.

Kermit Erasmus

Kermit Erasmus is a South African professional soccer player who plays for South African Premier Soccer League side Orlando Pirates and the South Africa national team. Erasmus was born in Port Elizabeth and then moved to Pretoria as a teenager where he made his professional debut with SuperSport United in 2007. Erasmus has played for some of the best clubs in South Africa including Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and Cape Town City, he also turned out for some great international teams including French giants Rennes. Kermit Erasmus first played for Pirates from 2013–2016 and he later joined them in 2022 up to date.

Fortune Makaringe

Fortune Makaringe is a South African soccer player who players for Orlando Pirates as a midfielder. Makaringe rose to prominense when he was turning out for Maritzburg United where he was putting impressive perfomances week in week out. His biggest move thus far came in the year 2009 when he was signed by Orlando Pirates. Makaringe also plays for the South African national football team with a total of just 3 caps to date. Fortune Makaringe is popularly known for his silky skills.

Current Ranking

When we talk about Orlando Pirates, we are talking about a giant of both South African and African soccer who have achieved and contributed a lot to the development of soccer in Africa. Below are the rankings for Orlando Pirates in South Africa, Africa and the world.

South Africa

Orlando Pirates are ranked number 2 in South Africa.

Africa

Orlando Pirates are ranked number 21 in Africa.

World

Orlando Pirates are ranked number 397 in the world.

Orlando Pirates’ two biggest competitors

Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns are Orlando Pirates’ biggest competitors and their rivalry with these 2 clubs goes way back in the 1970’s where both Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns were formed. The match between Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs is regarded as one of the most attended derbies in the world because these two club are fierce rivals. See also Bafana Bafana Fixtures.