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‘Benni had everything that a coach loves in a player.’ – José Mourinho

Benni McCarthy is South Africa’s most successful footballer – he’s the all-time top scorer for Bafana Bafana, the country’s only Champions League winner, and he is now forging a successful career as a coach.

Benni has gone from growing up in the ganglands of the Cape Flats to playing at some of the biggest arenas in sport, moving from South Africa as a teenager to become a much-prized player at clubs in the Netherlands, Spain and England. He was the top scorer at the Africa Cup of Nations finals, he also found the back of the net at the World Cup, and he helped FC Porto and their fabled coach José Mourinho to win the top club prize in world football.

Since hanging up his boots, Benni has embarked on a coaching career that has seen him win silverware in South Africa and then go on to work on the staff at Manchester United. He is now building a national team for Kenya as they ready themselves to host the 2027 Cup of Nations tournament.

Overcoming formidable obstacles has been the hallmark of Benni’s career, be it defying neighbourhood gang bosses, a series of vindictive coaches or self-serving South African football administrators. His defiant approach to officialdom often landed him in hot water but he has always stayed true to his principles, resulting in a love-hate relationship with Bafana Bafana that has never been properly explained … until now.

MARK GLEESON has been writing and broadcasting about football in South Africa, and the wider continent, for the last four decades. He has worked for all the major newspaper groups, launched the magazine Kick Off and did the television commentary for South Africa’s first World Cup appearance in 1998. He is also a long-standing correspondent on African football for various international publications and agencies and has worked at eight World Cup and fourteen Africa Cup of Nations tournaments. Benni and Mark worked closely together in the interviews, research and writing of this definitive biography.