Background and career
Abdeslam Ouaddou (Arabic: عبدالسلام وادو; born 1 November 1978) is a Moroccan football manager and former player who is the manager of the South African Premiership club Orlando Pirates.
Ouaddou played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder and began his career with AS Nancy Lorraine. He won his first trophy, the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup, with Fulham. Later in his playing career, he had a short spell with Olympiacos, playing several games during the 2006–07 Super League Greece season, which was won by the club, before he moved to Valenciennes. He later returned to AS Nancy Lorraine, before spending three years playing in Qatar, where he won the 2010–11 Qatar Stars League with Lekhwiya. He joined his boyhood club AS Nancy Lorraine in 2013, before he ended his playing career and began working as a coach. A holder of French citizenship, he was capped 58 times for the Morocco national football team, scoring three times.
Ouaddou began his coaching career as a youth and assistant coach with AS Nancy Lorraine and later worked with the Algeria national football team. His first head coaching stint was at Mouloudia Club d'Oujda, for whom he was at the helm for four months. As a manager, he won his first trophy, the 2024 Coupe du Congo, with Association Sportive Vita Club. He was previously the head coach of the Marumo Gallants before his move to the Orlando Pirates, where he won the domestic treble in his first season, with the club having won the 2025 MTN 8, the 2025 Carling Knockout Cup, and the 2025–26 South African Premiership.
