Philemon Raul Masinga (28 June 1969 – 13 January 2019) was a South African professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

and manager who played as a striker from 1990 to 2002. He played in the English Premier League for Leeds United, and Italian Serie A for Salernitana and

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Ital ...

. He also played for

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 ...

, Mamelodi Sundowns with his cousin Bennett Masinga, St. Gallen and Al-Wahda. He represented South Africa in 58 international games, scoring 18 goals. In 2006, he briefly went into football management with PJ Stars.

Club career

He made his debut for

in 1990, before moving on to Mamelodi Sundowns. In 1994 he left for English Premier League club Leeds United; the deal that his agent Marcelo Houseman did with Leeds manager Howard Wilkinson also involved

Lucas Radebe Lucas Valeriu Ntuba Radebe OIS (born 12 April 1969) is a South African former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He began playing in South Africa with Kaizer Chiefs, before transferring to Leeds United, where he played 256 m ...

moving to Leeds from

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) are a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premier Soccer League. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Lords" or "Ch ...

. He played in the English Premier League for two years, playing 31 games and scoring five goals, and also scored a hat-trick in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

tie against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

on 17 January 1995. Masinga moved to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

with St. Gallen in 1996, followed by spells in Italy with Salernitana and

. In 2001, a return to English Football with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

fell through after he failed to secure a work permit, following which he moved to Al Wahda FC in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...

where he completed his playing career.

International career

Masinga made his international debut in July 1992 against Cameroon; this was South Africa's first match following readmission of the country to international football. In an

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internat ...

qualifier versus

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

in 1992, Masinga became the first South African ever to be sent off in an international match. He was in the

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

side when South Africa won the

in 1996 and when they finished second to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in the 1998

. "Chippa", as he was affectionately known, scored the decisive goal in the 1997 game against the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

that took South Africa to the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He played 58 games for his country, scoring 18 goals.

International goals

Management

In 2006, Masinga briefly coached PJ Stars, a now-defunct third-division South African club.

Honours

;Jomo Cosmos * Nedbank Cup: 1990 ;Mamelodi Sundowns *

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 ...

: 1993 ;South Africa * Africa Cup of Nations winners:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

* Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 1998

Death

On 13 January 2019, the president of 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 Footb ...

, Danny Jordaan, announced his death. Masinga had been admitted to hospital the previous month, due to cancer.

References

External links

* *
Klerksdorper.com The Number One Internet Site for Klerksdorp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masinga, Phil 1969 births 2019 deaths People from Klerksdorp Sportspeople from North West (South African province) Expatriate footballers in England South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African soccer players Place of death missing South Africa international soccer players South African expatriate soccer players Leeds United F.C. players Premier League players 1996 African Cup of Nations players 1998 African Cup of Nations players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Jomo Cosmos F.C. players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Al Wahda FC players S.S.C. Bari players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate footballers in Italy South African expatriate sportspeople in Italy FC St. Gallen players Swiss Super League players Expatriate footballers in Switzerland South African expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates South African expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Association football forwards UAE Pro League players Deaths from cancer in South Africa