Who has the most Pirates appearance es?
Happy Jele broke record for the most appearances for Orlando Pirates early on in the new DStv Premiership season, and is now sitting on 382 starts in all competitions, including the African Champions League and African Confederation Cup, when he suffered injury against Royal AM in October and was ruled out for a lengthy period of the time.
The 34-year-old ended last season on 374 starts, one game less than the record of 375 held by goalkeeper Okpara Williams. Jele has been a classic one-club man, debuting for the Buccaneers in 2006 and going onto win two league titles with them. He remains the only surviving player from Pirates’ last league success in 2012 when first Julio Leal and then Augusto Palacios were coaching.
Milutin Sredojevic handed him his debut, against Maritzburg United, in the first game of the 2006-07 league season and Jele has since seen a further 14 coaches come and go, including ‘Micho’ again.