Benedict Saul McCarthy (born 12 November 1977) is a South African professional soccer coach and former player who is currently the manager of the Kenya national football team. A former forward, McCarthy is the South Africa national team's all-time top scorer with 31 goals. He is also the only South African to have won the UEFA Champions League, doing so with Porto in 2004. In 2026, FIFA cited McCarthy as one of the greatest South African players of all time.
McCarthy previously worked as the head coach of South African Premier Division sides Cape Town City and AmaZulu, and as striker's coach at Premier League club Manchester United.
Early life Benni McCarthy was born in Cape Town and grew up in Hanover Park in the Cape Flats, an area notorious for its high unemployment rate and gang violence. He is the son of Dudley and Dora McCarthy and has two brothers and a sister. His older brother is Jerome McCarthy, a former professional footballer who played for Kaizer Chiefs and Manning Rangers, among other clubs, while his younger brother Mark played football at Franklin Pierce University in the United States.
McCarthy began playing at a local side called Young Pirates, which was managed by his uncles. He then joined the youth structures of a local amateur club called Crusaders. At age 17, he was signed by first division club Seven Stars.
Club career
Seven Stars Playing for Seven Stars, the 18-year-old McCarthy scored 1 goal in 29 matches in the 1995–96 season, followed by another 12 goals in 20 matches, which earned him a transfer to Cape Town Spurs, which two years later merged with Seven Stars to form Dutch club Ajax's feeder team, Ajax Cape Town.
Ajax In 1997, after an impressive showing at the African Youth Championship and FIFA World Youth Championship in Malaysia, he joined Ajax in the Eredivisie, where he scored nine goals and was crowned champion in his first season. After a relatively successful 1998–99 season, he was sold to Spanish side Celta Vigo for a transfer fee reported to be over €6 million, at the time the most expensive transfer for a South African player.
Celta Vigo McCarthy joined Celta in 1999, but struggled to established himself as a regular choice for Celta's manager, Víctor Fernández. After two poor seasons at the Galician club, he was loaned to Porto.
Loan to Porto McCarthy joined Porto in the 2001–02 season under the then newly appointed coach José Mourinho, where he became the main force behind the team's recovery. He helped them to third place in the Primeira Liga and automatic qualification for the UEFA Cup with 12 goals in 11 matches, but Porto's finances did not allow them to keep the player, despite the desire of both sides to continue.
Return from loan In 2002–03, McCarthy returned to Celta where he spent much of his time on the substitutes' bench as a squad player.
Porto When Porto sold striker Hélder Postiga to Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the 2003–04 season, Porto finally acquired McCarthy for a sum of €7.856 million (later re-sold part of the rights to GestiFute and First Portuguese Football Players Fund).
For the 2003–04 Primeira Liga season, he earned the Golden Boot award (with 20 goals in 23 starts) on the season's final matchday with a hat-trick, and was instrumental in Porto's run in the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League, which they won. He scored two goals against Manchester United to defeat them in the second round.
Blackburn Rovers
On 25 July 2006, McCarthy flew out to England to undergo a medical and probable contract signing to join Blackburn Rovers. Three days later, he signed a four-year contract with Blackburn for a £2.5 million transfer fee. The move meant that Rovers regularly fielded a side that contained two South African Internationals, the other being Aaron Mokoena who joined the club the year previous.
After a disappointing performance in the side's 3–0 defeat to Portsmouth, McCarthy found the net on his debut at Ewood Park against Everton on 23 August 2006. McCarthy further endeared himself to Rovers fans, scoring a goal on his European debut for the club in a 2–2 against Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Cup, and scoring another in the return leg. He finished second top scorer in the Premier League in 2006–07 with 18 league goals, as well as 24 in all competitions.
The following season got off to a poor start for McCarthy when he was stretchered off in the Premier League opening day win against Middlesbrough. McCarthy was out of action for a few weeks and found first team opportunities limited, largely because the form of new striking arrival Roque Santa Cruz. Despite being limited to largely substitute appearances, McCarthy did find the net 11 times in all competitions.
In the 2008–09 season, McCarthy appeared to be out of favour with new manager Paul Ince, as the club's strike force was strengthened with the arrivals of Carlos Villanueva and Robbie Fowler to join the already established Roque Santa Cruz, Jason Roberts and Matt Derbyshire. However, McCarthy answered these critics by scoring his first goal of the campaign – a 94th-minute equaliser in a Premier League match against Middlesbrough.
In all competitions for Blackburn, McCarthy scored 52 goals in 140 matches.
West Ham United McCarthy completed a move to West Ham United for an undisclosed fee on transfer deadline day, 1 February 2010. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract that was due to run until the summer of 2012. He made his Premier League debut for West Ham against Burnley at Turf Moor in a 2–1 defeat on 6 February 2010, where he sustained an injury which would keep him out for six weeks. In February 2011, having played just 326 minutes of football, making only three starts and failing to score any goals for West Ham, McCarthy was omitted from West Ham's 25-man squad for the remainder of the 2010–11 season. He was also offered a £1 million pay-off in exchange for terminating his contract prematurely. In April 2011, McCarthy left West Ham by mutual agreement after the parties agreed to terminate his contract. He made only two Premier League starts and fourteen appearances in all competitions scoring no goals.
Orlando Pirates After leaving West Ham, McCarthy trained with former club Ajax Cape Town during the ABSA Premier League off-season. On 2 August, Orlando Pirates confirmed the signing of McCarthy on a two-year deal, ending his 14-year spell in Europe. On signing, McCarthy said, "I'm thrilled and delighted and hope I can show my appreciation by coming in and playing good football and hope to score as many goals as possible to put the team where they belong." McCarthy began the season by scoring on debut and vowed to score more goals.
McCarthy scored two goals in the final half-hour to help the Pirates defeat the Golden Arrows 4–2 on 19 May 2012 to retain their Premier League title. He finished his successful season with ten league goals, ending the campaign as the fourth leading goal-scorer in the Premier League, helping the club secure their second successive treble. Having already won a league championship with Ajax in the Netherlands as well with Porto both domestically and in Europe, McCarthy would make football history by winning the league championship with Orlando Pirates in South Africa. This meant McCarthy was the first South African footballer to win three league titles with three different football clubs on two different continents.
McCarthy, who is affectionately known as "Big Brother" by the Orlando Pirates faithful, was handed a red card for dissent in the MTN 8 secondleg semi-final played on 25 August 2012 after he charged Franklin Cale after a reckless challenge on Daine Klate. This incident lead to protesting fans whom, in their view, Cale was equally guilty in the incident and should have also been shown red. McCarthy announced his retirement from professional football on 6 June 2013, aged 35.
Whitehill Welfare On 13 July 2014, McCarthy made a guest appearance for Scottish Lowland league club Whitehill Welfare in a pre-season friendly against a Hamilton Academical XI, scoring in the 14th minute and providing an assist for Whitehill Welfare player Kerr Dodds to score in the 20th minute. McCarthy has a connection with the club through one of the Whitehill players, John Hall.
International career
McCarthy's international career began at youth level. He initially played as a winger before being converted to a striker by South Africa Under-20 head coach Ephraim Shakes Mashaba. The change proved effective, and McCarthy eventually developed into one of the most prolific strikers in South African football.
McCarthy came to international prominence at the 1997 African Youth Championship, where he emerged as a key player for the Under-20 side, finishing as the tournament's top scorer and being named Player of the Tournament. South Africa finished runners-up to Morocco, with McCarthy missing the final through suspension after accumulating yellow cards. Following the tournament, he was called up by senior coach Clive Barker for a friendly against the Netherlands in June 1997. McCarthy made his international debut as a substitute, playing the final 18 minutes of South Africa's 2–0 defeat and becoming the second-youngest player to represent the national team at the time. He was subsequently selected for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, where South Africa were eliminated in the group stage, and made two further appearances for the senior team before the end of the year.
His performances at club level in 1997 earned McCarthy a place in South Africa's squad for the 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso, ahead of established forwards such as Mark Williams and Shaun Bartlett. The tournament was his first major international competition with the senior national team. Despite the absence of experienced players such as Doctor Khumalo and Neil Tovey, South Africa reached the final for the second successive edition, with McCarthy playing a prominent role.
He made his Africa Cup of Nations debut against Angola, becoming the youngest South African to appear at the tournament. He was substituted in the ninth minute as a precaution after receiving a yellow card for an act of petulance that had nearly resulted in him being sent off. On 16 February 1998, he scored all four goals in a 4–1 victory over Namibia, becoming the first South African to score four goals in a single Africa Cup of Nations match. At 20 years and 96 days, he also became the youngest South African to score at the tournament, surpassing the previous record held by Mark Fish. The record has since been broken by Thapelo Maseko. He scored again in the quarter-final against Morocco, surpassing the tournament-scoring records previously held by Mark Williams and John Moshoeu, before scoring twice in the semi-final against the Democratic Republic of the Congo as South Africa won 2–1 after extra time. South Africa lost 2–0 to Egypt in the final, while McCarthy was named Player of the Tournament. Alongside veteran Egyptian striker Hossam Hassan, he also finished as the tournament's joint top scorer with seven goals.
Later in 1998, McCarthy was selected for South Africa's squad for the FIFA World Cup in France, the country's first appearance at the tournament. He made his World Cup debut on 12 June in a 3–0 defeat to hosts France, becoming the youngest South African to appear at the World Cup. Six days later, he scored South Africa's first goal in the competition in a 1–1 draw with Denmark. The result gave South Africa their first point at a World Cup, while McCarthy became the youngest South African to score at the tournament. However, the third match also ended in a draw, against Saudi Arabia, which left the South Africans in third place and eliminated from the competition.