Phil Masinga

**Philemon Raul Masinga** (28 June 1969 – 13 January 2019) was a South African professional footballer and manager who played as a striker from 1990 to 2002. He was renowned as a strong who stood out for his leadership on the pitch, and he was known for his great dribbling, speed, and his incredible goalscoring ability and finishing, he is widely regarded as one of the best South African strikers of all time.

## Club career

He made his debut for Jomo Cosmos 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 moving to Leeds from Kaizer Chiefs. 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 tie against Walsall on 17 January 1995.

Masinga moved to Switzerland with St. Gallen in 1996, followed by spells in Italy with Salernitana and Bari. In 2001, a return to English Football with Coventry City fell through after he failed to secure a work permit, following which he moved to Al Wahda FC in Abu Dhabi 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 qualifier versus Zambia in 1992, Masinga became the first South African ever to be sent off in an international match. He was in the Bafana Bafana side when South Africa won the African Cup of Nations in 1996 and when they finished second to Egypt in the 1998 African Cup of Nations. "Chippa", as he was affectionately known, scored the decisive goal in the 1997 game against the Republic of the Congo that took South Africa to the 1998 World Cup in France. He played 58 games for his country, scoring 18 goals.

### International goals

|Goal|Date|Venue|Opponent|Score|Result|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|11 July 1992|FNB Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa||1–1|2–2|Friendly|
|2|24 October 1992||1–0|1–0|1994 FIFA World Cup qualification||
|3|25 July 1993|Sir Aneroid Jugnauth Stadium, Belle Vue Maurel, Mauritius||3–0|3–0|1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|4|24 April 1994|Mmabatho Stadium, Mmabatho, South Africa||1–0|1–0|Friendly|
|5|4 September 1994|Mahamasina Municipal Stadium, Antananarivo, Madagascar||1–0|1–0|1996 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|6|15 October 1994|Odi Stadium, Mabopane, South Africa||1–0|1–0||
|7|13 January 1996|FNB Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa||1–0|3–0|1996 Africa Cup of Nations|
|8|24 April 1996||1–0|2–3|Friendly||
|9|9 November 1996||1–0|1–0|1998 FIFA World Cup qualification||
|10|27 April 1997|Stade Municipal, Lome, Togo|2–1|2–1|||
|11|24 May 1997|Old Trafford, Manchester, England||1–1|1–2|Friendly|
|12|8 June 1997|FNB Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa||2–0|3–0|1998 FIFA World Cup qualification|
|13|16 August 1997||1–0|1–0|||
|14|24 January 1998|Independence Stadium, Windhoek, South Africa||2–1|2–3|1998 COSAFA Cup|
|15|23 January 1999|King George V Stadium, Curepipe, Mauritius||1–0|1–1|2000 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|16|27 February 1999|Odi Stadium, Mabopane,South Africa||2–1|4–1||
|17|16 December 2000|FNB Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa||2–0|2–1|2002 Africa Cup of Nations qualification|
|18|25 February 2001|Chichiri Stadium, Blantyre, Malawi||1–0|2–1|2002 FIFA World Cup qualification|

## Managerial career

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: 1993

- Leeds United

- League Cup; Runner-up: 1996

- South Africa

- Africa Cup of Nations winners: 1996
- Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 1998

## Death

On 13 January 2019, the president of the South African Football Association, Danny Jordaan, announced his death. Masinga had been admitted to hospital the previous month, due to cancer.

## Other websites

- Klerksdorper.com The Number One Internet Site for Klerksdorp

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Phil Masinga
- **fullname**: Philemon Raul Masinga
- **birth place**: Klerksdorp, South Africa
- **death place**: Johannesburg, South Africa
- **position**: Striker (association football), Striker
- **youthyears1**: 1984–1990
- **youthclubs1**: Kaizer Chiefs Football Club, Kaizer Chiefs
- **years1**: 1990–1991
- **clubs1**: Jomo Cosmos
- **caps1**: 88
- **goals1**: 23
- **years2**: 1991–1994
- **clubs2**: Mamelodi Sundowns FC, Mamelodi Sundowns
- **caps2**: 108
- **goals2**: 98
- **years3**: 1994–1996
- **clubs3**: Leeds United F.C., Leeds United
- **caps3**: 31
- **goals3**: 5
- **years4**: 1996–1997
- **clubs4**: FC St. Gallen, St. Gallen
- **caps4**: 10
- **goals4**: 0
- **years5**: 1997
- **clubs5**: Salernitana Calcio 1919, Salernitana
- **caps5**: 16
- **goals5**: 4
- **years6**: 1997–2001
- **clubs6**: A.S. Bari, Bari
- **caps6**: 75
- **goals6**: 24
- **years7**: 2001–2002
- **clubs7**: Al-Wahda FC (Abu Dhabi), Al-Wahda
- **caps7**: 15
- **goals7**: 7
- **totalcaps**: 343
- **totalgoals**: 161
- **nationalyears1**: 1992–2001
- **nationalteam1**: South Africa national football team, South Africa
- **nationalcaps1**: 58
- **nationalgoals1**: 18
- **manageryears1**: 2006
- **managerclubs1**: PJ Stars
- **medaltemplates**: <small>(as player)</small>