Three goals made, none scored. When South Africa beat Eritrea 5-0 in a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on 30 September 2026, Oswin Appollis supplied three assists, and Flashscore noted that no Bafana Bafana player had done that since Appollis himself did it against Congo in 2024.
This page first went up in January 2024, when he was 22 and at Polokwane City. Plenty has changed.
At a glance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Full name | Oswin Reagan Appollis |
| Born | 25 August 2001, Bishop Lavis, Cape Town |
| Age | 25 (as of 7 October 2026) |
| Club | Orlando Pirates, since July 2025 |
| Is he married? | No wife made public; long-term girlfriend reported |
| Salary | Not public |
| Reported fee | About R12 million (KickOff, July 2025) |
| Tournaments | AFCON 2023, AFCON 2025, 2026 World Cup |
Is Oswin Appollis married? Wife, girlfriend and parents
No wife has ever been made public. He has not announced a marriage.
What has been published comes from a September 2025 IOL interview. It credited his immediate family, the Appollis side and the Davids family, described as the side of his girlfriend of five years, for keeping him going when he was at his lowest. Her name was not given. Nothing has been said publicly about children.
His mother appears in the story of his first big call-up. Speaking to The Post in November 2023, after Hugo Broos named him for the AFCON in Ivory Coast, he said: “I then called my mother and told her I made the team. She was very excited. She even cried.”
In another interview, quoted by Briefly News, he said his mom and granny always encouraged him to stay focused after he left Cape Town young. He has not made his parents' names public. The part of his private life he talks about most is the spell when he quit football after stints at SuperSport United and the University of Pretoria and went home to Cape Town, until a phone call from former coach Kwanele Kopo persuaded him to try again at Pretoria Callies. It worked.
Oswin Appollis salary and transfer fee
Here the honest answer is short.
No identifiable South African outlet has published his Pirates salary. The club does not disclose wages. The old one million dollar net worth line on this page has been removed, because nobody ever sourced it.
The fee is another matter. Soccer Laduma reported during the 2025 chase that Kaizer Chiefs had a R10 million bid rejected and that Pirates offered R15 million plus a player. When the deal closed on 2 July 2025, Sowetan said the terms were not disclosed. Two weeks later the Cape Argus relayed a KickOff report putting the fee at R12 million, below the R15 million to R20 million that had been talked about. His contract length has never been published.
In September 2026, Briefly News, citing The Citizen, reported European interest. Nothing has happened yet.
From Polokwane to Orlando, and on to the World Cup
He wasted no time. On 2 August 2025 he scored against Polokwane City, his old club, in an MTN8 quarter-final at Orlando Stadium. Polokwane coach Phuti Mohafe said afterwards: “It's always difficult to lose a family member.”
Then came the best season of his career. Four trophies. Pirates won the MTN8, the Carling Knockout and, on the final day in Mbombela, their first league title in 14 years, ending Mamelodi Sundowns' run of eight. In December they also took the Carling Black Label Cup in Durban, beating the Carling All Stars 2-0. The Citizen credited Appollis with nine league goals and six assists in 30 appearances, and he was named Betway Premiership Midfielder of the Season.
Internationally, the arc is just as steep. He made the 23-man squad for Ivory Coast and was part of the bronze-winning side covered in our AFCON 2023 Bafana Bafana news. At AFCON 2025 in Morocco he scored in wins over Angola and Zimbabwe before Cameroon won 2-1 in the last 16. Broos then picked him for the World Cup, where he started the 1-1 draw with Czechia in Atlanta and came off the bench in the 1-0 round of 32 defeat to Canada.
The new season started fast. Flashscore recorded him as the first scorer of the 2026/27 Betway Premiership, against promoted Milford FC. FotMob had him on two league goals and an assist from seven games by early October.
Our view
Anyone searching for a wife or a salary figure will not find either here, because neither is on the public record. What is on record is a winger who walked away from the game, came back through the second tier and now creates goals for his country. Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane said after the Eritrea win that “he can play anywhere, on the side, come in and all that.”
Fair enough.
This article was most recently revised and updated 7 hours ago
