Orlando Pirates confirm Mandla Ncikazi departure after Abdeslam Ouaddou denies rift

Orlando Pirates have confirmed that assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has left the club, shortly after head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou rejected suggestions of tension between the pair.

Pirates said Ncikazi made clear during discussions with the club’s management on Thursday morning that he wanted to accept a head-coaching role at a Premiership club. The club did not identify his next destination.

Ncikazi departs after helping Pirates win nine trophies as part of their technical team. He primarily worked as an assistant to Jose Riveiro and Ouaddou.

“Mandla leaves with our gratitude and our blessing. His contribution to Orlando Pirates has been evident throughout his time with us,” Buccaneers chair Irvin Khoza said.

“We respect his wish to pursue this new opportunity and wish him success as he takes on a new responsibility.”

The announcement came on the day Ouaddou held his pre-match media conference before Pirates’ Champions League qualifier against African Stars of Namibia.

The second leg will take place at Orlando Stadium on Friday at 20:00, with Pirates holding a 1-0 advantage from the first meeting in neutral Gaborone, Botswana.

Ncikazi’s absence from recent matches had prompted speculation about a disagreement with Ouaddou. However, speaking before the match, the coach said the assistant’s absence was linked to his recovery from surgery.

“The club has issued a statement saying he had surgery and he is recovering. I wish him all the best and that’s all I can say,” Ouaddou said.

“You know we read many things about this. Everything is OK in our club, the environment is OK and people must not start problems.

“There was surgery and I wish him all the best. I read many things and we must not create problems.”

Ouaddou said Pirates had used the time since the first leg to recover and make tactical changes ahead of the decisive match.

“We played a difficult game in Botswana under hard conditions and the players gave everything and they produced a positive result,” he said.

“At least we can say we have a second half at home where we can get through to the group stages. The most important thing was to focus on recovery of the players and we had two sessions to make tactical adjustments to what we saw in the last game.”

The coach said his players were determined to secure a return to the Champions League group stages and complete the job in front of their home supporters.

“They are ready to come back to the Champions League and we are focused on winning this second half. We will do everything in terms of commitment and organisation to go through to the group stage for our fans,” Ouaddou added.

“Last season, this was one of the targets that we did not reach and our fans deserve this competition and we are going to give everything to make them happy.”