On 24 July 1999, Benedict Saul (Benni) McCarthy of Bafana Bafana fame, accepted a contract of R38,5 million to play for the Spanish club, Real Club Celta de Vigo.
The amount (over six million Euros) was at the time the most expensive transfer for a South African player.
Benni is the South African national team’s all-time top scorer with 31 goals, and also the only South African to win the UEFA Champions League, doing so with Porto in the 2003/ 2004 season.
Having previously represented South Africa at U/23 level, Benni made his senior debut against the Netherlands.
He scored his first international goals on 16 February 1998, scoring four times in 13 minutes against Namibia at the 1998 African Cup of Nations.
He added another goal against Morocco and scored twice more against the Democratic Republic of Congo to lead South Africa to the final.
Although South Africa was beaten by Egypt, McCarthy was named Player of the Tournament, and collected the Top Scorer award for his seven goals.
McCarthy equalled Bartlett’s national record in 2007 when he scored in a 3–1 loss to Zambia.
He broke the record the following year against Paraguay and scored one more goal before retiring from football in 2013 at the age of 35.
On 13 June 2017, McCarthy was unveiled as the new Cape Town City head coach, replacing Eric Tinkler, who moved to manage SuperSport United.
Information sourced from: South African History Online.
