As the first SA side to conquer the continent, Orlando Pirates face fresh pressure in the new season to return to their heady days after a disappointing past few years.

Pirates enter their ninth season without a league championship, having last won it in 2011/12 when they pipped Moroka Swallows on the final day.

But it is their feat in 1995, when they overcame Asec Mimosa, of Ivory Coast, via a Jerry Sikhosana goal in the second leg, that earned them respect throughout the continent.

They have since reached two continental finals after that momentous achievement: the Champions League in 2013, which they lost to Al Ahly; and the Confederation Cup two years later where they were beaten by Etoile Sahel.

As the new season begins in two weeks’ time, the bar remains high for Pirates to reclaim their status as one of SA’s giants. “The mandate is the same every season: to fight for everything on offer,” said club administrative officer Floyd Mbele. “We can’t prioritise one competition over another. We are a big club and every big club worth its salt must compete for everything.”

This means Pirates go into the new season with an eye on the MTN8 prize they claimed last year to end six years of drought. The Buccaneers will face Swallows in the second week of August.

They will once again hope to wrestle the league title from Mamelodi Sundowns, who’ve turned the local championship into a one-horse race after winning it for the last four seasons. There’s also the Confederation Cup, which Mbele conceded could have been annexed had they not faced eventual champions Raja Casablanca “too early”, in the quarterfinals, last season.

“Last season was satisfactory, but not entirely. The points difference [17] between us and Sundowns was a disappointment. You look at the number of draws [11] we played, and you can see we could have done better. Just converting five of those draws into wins, we would have closed the gap on Sundowns.

“In the Confed Cup, we were very unlucky to lose to Enyimba [in the final group game]. Had we drawn that match, we would have avoided playing Raja too early, and may have met them in the later rounds when we had momentum,” Mbele stated.

After beefing up their technical team with Mandla Ncikazi, who will work alongside German coach Josef Zinnbauer, Pirates go at it again amid expectations that they should exceed last year’s haul of one cup, third place and a Confed Cup quarterfinal berth.

But it will take some time for them to match the 1995 feat which put SA football on the continental map after years of apartheid isolation.