Oswin Appollis had early setbacks in his career but is now flourishing as one of South Africa’s brightest talents, writes Mazola Molefe.

It is hard to believe now, but Orlando Pirates winger Oswin Appollis was once on the brink of walking away from football altogether.

Five years ago, the Bafana Bafana international was released by the SuperSport United academy and sent home to Cape Town.

Crushed and uncertain of his future, Appollis spent weeks curled up at his parents’ house, seriously considering leaving the game that had shaped his entire youth.

The decision to let him go would later be questioned by Gavin Hunt, who returned to coach SuperSport in 2022, albeit too late.

By that time, Appollis had rebuilt his career and was one of the most exciting players in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).

After his release, Appollis found redemption with Polokwane City, who signed him from Pretoria Callies for a fee believed to be just under R1 million and his journey from rejection to revival has become one of South African football’s most inspiring comeback stories.

“It was around the time I was 18 or 19,” Appollis recalls.

“I was impatient — things weren’t going my way. When SuperSport said there was no future for me, I just wanted to go home and be with my family.”

But one man refused to let him fade away.

His former youth coach Kwanele Kopo, who had worked with him at the SuperSport academy, simply would not give up.

“At that moment, I thought quitting was the best decision,” Appollis admits.

“Now that I’m older, I realise patience is so important in life. Every day, I remind myself of that. I’ll always be grateful to coach Kopo.”

It was Kopo who convinced him to join Pretoria Callies in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, offering a lifeline to a player who had lost all confidence. Under Kopo’s guidance, Appollis rediscovered his passion for the game and his explosive talent began to resurface.

When Callies failed to secure promotion to the topflight, Polokwane City came calling – a move that would give Appollis his long-awaited chance in the Premiership and provide an opportunity to prove his doubters wrong.

“I’m very grateful to coach Kopo,” Appollis says.

“He’s the one who saved my career. I was at home and didn’t want to play football anymore. He called me and I said, ‘No, I don’t want to play — I just want to stay with my family.’ But he didn’t stop calling. Eventually, he even phoned my mother, and that’s when she sat me down and told me to go back.” That decision changed everything.

Within two years, Appollis was being celebrated as one of the PSL’s brightest attacking talents as his performances for Polokwane City earned him a national team call-up, which culminated with being part of the Bafana Bafana squad that won bronze at the Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d’Ivoire.

When the transfer window opened, the race for his signature became one of the most talked-about stories in South African football and after months of speculation linking him to several clubs — including Kaizer Chiefs — it was Pirates who secured his services, beating their Soweto rivals to the deal.

“It was a very hard season,” Appollis says of that period.

“Going back to playing after wanting to quit — that was tough. But I’m grateful for coach Kopo because he was the only one who called me at that time. He said, ‘Come play for Pretoria Callies,’ and that changed my life.”

Kopo, now coaching at the University of Pretoria, has publicly expressed how proud he is to see his former protégé shining at one of the country’s biggest clubs.

Appollis says that bond between them remains unbreakable.

“We still communicate even today,” he says warmly.

“That’s one person I’ll never forget in my life. I don’t think I’d be here if it wasn’t for him — he didn’t just call once; he kept calling until I said yes.”

At just 24, Appollis rising from near-oblivion to the Pirates first team is testament to his resilience and growth.

No longer the impatient teenager who gave up too soon, he has matured into one of the PSL’s most composed and confident forwards. Now, attention turns once again to the Africa Cup of Nations, this time in Morocco, where Bafana Bafana will face Angola, Egypt, and Zimbabwe in the group stages.

Appollis, expected to be a key figure for Hugo Broos’ side, hopes to go even further than the team’s impressive bronze finish earlier this year.