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 born in Khuma in the city of Matlosana formerly known as Klerksdorp Municipality. He played in the English Premier League for Leeds United, and Italian Serie A for Salernitana and

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

. He also played for Jomo Cosmos, 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

Masinga 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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

on 17 January 1995. Masinga moved to Switzerland with St. Gallen in 1996, followed by spells in Italy with Salernitana and

. 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 Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

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 Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

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 ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

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 The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

that took South Africa to the 1998 World Cup in France. He played 58 games for his country, scoring 18 goals.

Managerial career

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

Death

On 13 January 2019, Masinga died in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He had been admitted to hospital the previous month, due to cancer.

Career statistics

Honours

Jomo Cosmos *

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of gi ...

: 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 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

South Africa * Africa Cup of Nations: 1996; 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

* *
Klerksdorper.com The Number One Internet Site for Klerksdorp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masinga, Phil 1969 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from Klerksdorp Soccer players from North West (South African province) Expatriate men's footballers in England South African expatriate sportspeople in England South African men's soccer players South Africa men's international soccer players South African expatriate men's 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 SSC Bari players US Salernitana 1919 players Serie A players Serie B players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy South African expatriate sportspeople in Italy FC St. Gallen players Swiss Super League players Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland South African expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in the United Arab Emirates South African expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Men's association football forwards UAE Pro League players Deaths from cancer in South Africa 20th-century South African sportsmen