Benni McCarthy

Benedict Saul “Benni” McCarthy is a South African international football player who currently features for the English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers. He is a striker and won the UEFA Champions League with Portuguese giants FC Porto in 2004.

Benni McCarthy stared his professional club football career at South African side Seven Stars in 1995 and scored an astonishing 39 goals in 49 league matches and was signed by Ajax Cape Town in 1997. Very soon he was on his way to Ajax in 1998 and scored 20 goals in 35 league matches in the Dutch first division.

In the summer of 1999 Spanish side Celta Vigo signed Benni McCarthy for 6 million euros and he went on to feature for the Galician club for four seasons, scoring 10 goals in 66 league matches.

In the summer of 2003, Portuguese giants FC Porto came calling and signed McCarthy for 3.5 million euros. He won the Champions League in 2004 as well as the Portuguese domestic league that year. He also won the league in 2006 and scored a total of 34 goals in 75 league fixtures.

Blackburn Rovers signed Benni McCarthy from Porto in the summer of 2006 for 2.5 million pounds on a four year contract. He has been more or less a regular at Ewood Park but he has somehow failed to recapture his old form.

Benni McCarthy made his international debut for South Africa in 1997 and has featured in 77 international matches for the Bafanabafana so far, scoring 30 goals. He was the joint top scorer in the 1998 African Cup of Nations in BUrkino Faso with 4 goals. He also featured in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and also in the 2002 World Cup.