The past weekend came with another addition for Deon Hotto as he keeps pacing up on the legendary avenues.
As has become customary of Hotto, he was on the pitch from start to finish on Saturday against Mamelodi Sundowns having won over Abdeslam Ouaddou, his latest coach at Orlando Pirates.
The Namibian has been a regular under all coaches at the Soweto giants since he joined, from Josef Zinnabuer, Mandla Ncikazi/Fadlu Davids, and Jose Riveiro.
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He played 45 games in his first season (2020/21), which was under Zinnbauer.
Then, for the 2021/22 campaign, it was 44 under the co-coaching arrangement of Ncikazi and Davids.
Then, when Jose Riveiro took over, it was again the same script with Hotto playing the most matches at Bucs during the Spaniard’s tenure.
It was 36 appearances in his first season, then 41 in his second, before adding 46 last term, with Riveiro in charge until the 3-0 win over Golden Arrows in May.
He then played thrice in the last four matches that Ncikazi oversaw at the tail end of last season to end up with a load of 4300 minutes.
While his numbers at Pirates now stand at 219, the veteran wingback clocked 400 appearances on Saturday.
This is inclusive of the games he played at Golden Arrows, Bloemfontein Celtic, and Bidvest Wits.
He has played his football in South Africa since January 2014 when he moved to Arrows, where he played his first match in February 2014 as Abafana Bes’thende were relegated.
His 400 count is inclusive of the 2014/15 appearances in the Nedbank Cup while Arrows were in the First Division but doesn’t factor in the NFD league games.
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While Hotto will turn 35 in October, he has shown no signs of slowing down.
With Makhehlene Makhaula yet to play this season, the left-footed star has been the oldest player used by Ouaddou to date at Pirates.
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
