Soweto Giants: 6 Retired Jerseys at Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs

• Ahead of the Soweto derby between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates this weekend, Briefly News looks at jersey numbers that have been retired by these clubs
• From Howard Freese to Lesley Manyathela and Jomo Sono, Chiefs and Pirates have retired a number of shirt numbers
• It’s a common culture in football to see clubs doing that as a sign of respect to former players

Following the news that Kaizer Chiefs decided to retire jersey number 20 to pay respect to legend Howard Freese, Briefly News takes a look at a number of jerseys that are retired.

Ahead of the eagerly anticipated Soweto derby this weekend, Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs have a number of shirts they retired. In honour of their top players of the past, the two Soweto giants have respected their previous greats in recent times.

For the Buccaneers, they retired some of their shirt numbers including two of their late players, goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa’s shirts and striker Lesley Manyathela were retired.

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Briefly News looks at 6 jerseys that are retired by Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs

The former Bafana Bafana keeper, Meyiwa, was gunned down in October 2014 in Vosloorus and the former African champions opted to retire his number one jersey. At the same time, Manyathela died in a car accident in 2003 and his number 22 is also not used by Pirates players.

Shasha Moleko is another player whose shirt is retired by Pirates after he also succumbed to a car crash, the former player died in 1998. Legendary coach Jomo Sono’s number 10 has also been called off by Pirates as the DStv Premiership giants honoured the dribbling wizard.

For the Glamour Boys, Doctor Khumalo’s shirt, number 15 is also not used by the club and the man known as ‘16V’ is held dearly at Naturena. Dubbed as ‘The Rock’, Chiefs announced the news regarding Freese’s shirt number and chairman Kaizer Motaung confirmed a few days ago. He said to the club’s media team:

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“The jersey is now retired, but it is also treasured. It is in our treasure chest to honour the person that wore this number. It is a rare thing in football and it is because of the quality of the person that represented the club.”

Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs will meet this weekend

The first Soweto derby of the season will pit the two South African football giants but it remains unclear if the fans will be allowed into the iconic FNB Stadium.

Looking at the most recent results, Pirates are high in confidence after bagging a win over Sekhukhune United in the league earlier this week. However, the same cannot be said for Chiefs who lost to Stellenbosch FC this week.

The post reads:

@OrapelengKhanye said:

"Ah this guy..... love him forever, the reason I still football and ntate Kaizer motaung is Doctor."

@JosiaTswai said:

"The Maestro himself The General."

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Kaizer Chiefs retire no. 20 jersey in honour of club legend Howard 'The Rock' Freese

In a similar story, Briefly News wrote that Kaizer Chiefs decided to honour club legend Howard 'The Rock' Freese and retire his jersey. Amakhosi took to social media to share the news with fans and posted snaps of Freese with club founder, Kaizer Motaung.

They captioned the post: "Kaizer Chiefs Chairman, Kaizer Motaung, has announced that the club will officially retire the number ‘20’ jersey of former captain Howard ‘The Rock’ Freese in honour of his 'significant contribution' to Amakhosi. #Amakhosi4Life.

"As Chairman of the club, I would like to announce that his number should be properly retired. It will not feature again on the field of play, because of the significance of the contribution that has been made by Howard today," said Motaung, according to a report by KickOff.