Ephraim Matsilele Sono OIS (born Madoda Walletjies Mkulwana, 17 July 1955), better known as Jomo Sono, is a South African

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club owner, coach and former professional footballer. He has been variously nicknamed the "Black Prince of South African Soccer", "Bra J" and "Mjomana".

Early life and football career

Sono was born in

Queenstown, South Africa Queenstown, officially Komani, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom on the N6 National Route. The town was established in 1853 and is cu ...

. When he was eight years old, his father

Eric Bhamuza Sono Eric Bhamuza "Scara" Sono (born 1937 – died 1964) was a South African soccer player who ignored the apartheid laws prohibiting people of different races from competing with one another. He captained the Orlando Pirates and was the father of ...

, who was a midfielder for the Orlando Pirates football team in the early 1960s, died as a result of a car crash. Soon after, his mother abandoned him. Consequently, Sono was left in the care of his ailing grandparents; as they were very poor, he had to resort to selling apples and peanuts at football games and train stations to clothe himself, buy food for his grandparents and pay school fees. Both his grandparents were born in the then Northern Transvaal at Valdezia village outside Makhado in Limpopo Province.Who´s Who SA
Sono's football career had an unusual beginning; during a match that he attended one of the Orlando Pirates’ regular players was absent and Sono was requested to stand in for him. He soon gained fame for his all-round ability, dribbling and accurate passing skills. It was during this time that he was given the nickname of ''Jomo'' (which means "burning spear") by an Orlando Pirates fan, who saw in him the same leadership qualities as those of

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...

, the then president of Kenya. After he had accomplished everything that he set out to do at Orlando Pirates, Sono went to the United States of America, where, in 1977, he played for the New York Cosmos, where one of his team-mates was the legendary player

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

. In 1978, he moved to the Colorado Caribous. At the end of the season, the Caribous moved to become the

Atlanta Chiefs The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1968 to 1973 and again from 19 ...

where Sono played with a fellow South African footballer, Patrick "Ace" Ntsoelengoe. Sono completed his stint in North America playing for the

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: * Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League * Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League * Toronto Azzurr ...

, playing three summers, 1980 through 1982. Sono also taught and gave demonstrations at Clemson University Soccer Camp for youths. Sono spent time with Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon and Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

, but was unable to obtain work permits for permanent contracts.

Club owner and coach

After his football career in the USA ended, Sono returned to South Africa, where he purchased the Highlands Park club in Johannesburg in 1982, renaming it

Jomo Cosmos Jomo Cosmos are a South African association football club based in Johannesburg that plays in the National First Division. The club is owned and coached by South African football legend Jomo Sono. In the 2021-2022 National First Division sea ...

in honour of his old team. Under his ownership, the club went on to achieve several successes: it won the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in 1987, the Bobsave Super Bowl in 1990, the Cola Cola Cup in 2002 and the Super Eight in 2003. Sono has also taken a leading role in discovering and developing new football talent, especially from rural areas. Some of the players whom Sono recruited and then went on to play for the

South African national team South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

and European clubs include Philemon Masinga,

Helman Mkhalele Helman Nkosiyethu Mkhalele (born 20 October 1969) is a South African former soccer player who played as a midfielder. He was the part of the Orlando Pirates squad that won the 1994 National Soccer League and 1995 African Cup of Champions Clubs ...

Sizwe Motaung Sizwe Motaung (7 January 1970 – 16 August 2001) was a South African association football, football player who played for Jomo Cosmos, Mamelodi Sundowns FC, Mamelodi Sundowns, FC St. Gallen, St. Gallen, CD Tenerife, Kaizer Chiefs FC, Kaizer Chi ...

and Mark Fish. Indeed, his recruits formed the core of the South African squad that won the

1996 African Nations Cup The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, ...

; Sono was also a technical advisor to the team's head coach Clive Barker during the tournament. In 1998, Sono was appointed as caretaker coach of the ''Bafana Bafana'' just before the African Nations Cup tournament in Burkina Faso in the place of Clive Barker, who had been sacked just before the event. Under Sono, the team reached the final of the tournament, where they lost to Egypt. Taking the short time that he had to prepare with the team into account, it was considered a remarkable feat. After a disappointing performance by the South African national squad during the

2002 African Nations Cup The 2002 African Cup of Nations was the 23rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Mali. Just like in 2000, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Ca ...

in Mali, Sono was again appointed a technical director to the team. However, the head coach of the team at that time, Carlos Queiróz, felt that his position was being undermined by this appointment and resigned. Sono was again appointed as caretaker coach, this time for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

in South Korea and Japan. During the World Cup, the South African squad did not progress beyond the first round; however, they did score five goals and achieved one win, one draw and a 3–2 loss against pre-tournament favourites Spain. The South African captain, Lucas Radebe, credited Sono with much of the team's performance, saying that he had instilled a good spirit within the team and that he had ensured a very positive atmosphere among the squad. Sono is the longest-serving coach in the South African Premier League and also sits on the board of the Premier Soccer League. He has also built up a reputation as a successful businessman; in addition to making a substantial profit by developing players and selling them to European teams, he also owns a number of businesses and is a chairman of numerous companies. On 22 October 2009 it was announced that he had returned to the

South African Football Association The South African Football Association (colloquially known as SAFA) is the national administrative governing body that controls the sport of football in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and is a member of the Confederation of African Football ...

, and one day later on 23 October 2009 he took the job as Technical Director.

Honours

Sono was voted 49th in the Top 100 Great South Africans in 2004. In December 2016, Sono received two doctorates from the University of London and the

University of Dubai The University of Dubai (UD) () is an accredited university in the UAE. Licensed nationally by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, UD became the first private University in Dubai to hold the AACSB international accreditation ...

for his contribution to football and business. Upon receiving the two doctorates he said: "To me this is the greatest achievement. People say it’s from outside

he doctorates He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

I don’t think it’s from outside. I think it’s from the world because the University of London is one of the biggest and the commonwealth university is one of the biggest."

Personal life

He is married and has four children, including the

South Africa national football team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international Association football, soccer and it is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. The team's nickname is Baf ...

member

Bamuza Sono Eric Scara Bamuza Sono (born 21 March 1980) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Born in Johannesburg, Sono spent his entire professional career with Jomo Cosmos. He also earned 4 internationa ...

, and his second son Matsilela Junior (*22 June 1992) plays in the reserve of

.Development Player Profiles

References

External links