Ouaddou: We’ve made the league more competitive

Orlando Pirates head coach, Abdeslam Ouaddou, has praised his team for challenging Mamelodi Sundowns in the Betway Premiership, comparing the title race to the Premier League.

Pirates beat their 61-point record on Tuesday night, securing a 2-0 win over Stellenbosch FC to move to 62 points with three games remaining.

The second-placed Buccaneers have a better goal difference than Sundowns, but they need to win all their remaining games and hope the reigning champions drop points in their final three outings, starting with Kaizer Chiefs at a sold-out Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

Ouaddou said the tight title race has brought excitement back to the league, drawing a comparison between Pirates and Sundowns and England’s Arsenal and Manchester City.

“In every league, in every country, if you can look at the Premier League in England, Manchester City and Arsenal are fighting, I think it’s the same fight that we are seeing in South Africa.”

“It creates a lot of interest for South African fans, it’s not funny when you see a team in 10 games before the end of the season, you see the team is winning the league,” he added. “So, for you as a fan, if you know at the beginning of this season who is going to be champion, you lose interest.”

“So, this season, we try to bring more competitiveness. I think the boys really did well. Let’s see what the result will be at the end of this season. But the most important thing is to give this competitiveness to the PSL until the end.”

☠️ FT | @StellenboschFC 0 v 2 @orlandopirates

🥅 Makgopa 42′, Maswanganyi 45+2′

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— Orlando Pirates (@orlandopirates) May 5, 2026

Written by: Ntsako Mukhari