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 played in the

English Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, and

Italian Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

for

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

and Bari. He also played for Jomo Cosmos,

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football ...

with his cousin

Bennett Masinga Bennett Masinga (13 January 1965 – 14 November 2013) was a South African association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He was the cousin of former footballer Phil Masinga. Masinga died on ...

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

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 Jomo Cosmos in 1990, before moving on to

. In 1994 he left for English Premier League club

; 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 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 competi ...

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 with

in 1996, followed by spells in Italy with

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 Al Wahda Football Club ( ar, نادي الوحدة لكرة القدم) is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that competes in the UAE Pro League. The club was founded in 1974 and plays its home games at the Al Nahyan Stad ...

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 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 side when South Africa won the African Cup of Nations in 1996 and when they finished second to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. 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 The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's premier club soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of giving lower league and amateur teams a chance t ...

: 1990 ;Mamelodi Sundowns * National Soccer League:

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

;South Africa * Africa Cup of Nations winners: 1996 * Africa Cup of Nations runner-up:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Death

On 13 January 2019, the president of the South African Football Association,

Danny Jordaan Daniel Alexander "Danny" Jordaan (born 3 September 1951) is the president of the South African Football Association ( SAFA). He is a former lecturer, politician and anti-apartheid activist. He led South Africa's successful 2010 FIFA World Cup bid ...

, 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