Orapa United 2022/2023 Home Shirt

ORAPA UNITED - HOME SHIRT 2022/2023

Orapa United are a Botswana Premier League side founded in 2012 in the small mining township of Orapa, in the country's central Boteti region. The club was born from a merger of five local sides - Boteti Young Fighters, White Diamonds, Orapa Swallows and Orapa Bucs among them - all of which had previously been competing for sponsorship funds from Debswana, the diamond-mining joint venture between De Beers and the Government of Botswana that powers the entire town. Known to fans as The Ostriches, Orapa play their home matches at the 5,000-capacity Itekeng Stadium and remain proudly backed by Debswana to this day.

The 2022/2023 campaign - during which this striking home shirt was worn - was one of the most successful seasons in the club's short history. Orapa finished a club-best third in the Botswana Premier League, just outside the continental qualification places, with a record of 19 wins, three draws and eight defeats from their 30 matches. Their 60 points left them clear of fourth-placed Township Rollers and only behind champions Jwaneng Galaxy and runners-up Gaborone United, who took the country's CAF Confederation Cup spot.

The most remarkable statistic of the campaign was Orapa's attacking output. The Ostriches finished the season as the Premier League's top scorers with 69 goals - more than even Jwaneng Galaxy's title-winning haul of 66 - underlining the front-foot, goals-first football that has come to define the side.

It was a season of real confidence-building for a club still finding its place in the upper echelons of Botswana football - the kind of campaign that turns a mining-town merger project into a serious top-tier contender and brought renewed pride to the diamond community of Orapa.

Follow the club on X: @orapaunitedfc