Majid Musisi
Encyclopedia
Majid Musisi Mukiibi is regarded by many as Uganda
's best football
player of all-time.
Musisi, who was Uganda’s first professional footballer to make it to Europe, started his career with second division side Mulago
. His eye for goals caught the eye of several top clubs, with SC Villa
getting the most out of him. He had several nicknames, the most prominent being ‘Tyson’ and ‘Magic’ and, with Paul Hasule
, was a work-horse and therefore rarely got injured.
, the then world’s heavyweight boxing
champion.
Musisi inspired Villa to four league titles, the CECAFA Championships, the Hedex Cup and the most memorable ones, taking them to the finals of the Abiola Cup in 1992 and African Club Championships
in 1991; he scored an equalizer in the dying minutes of the game against Nigeria
’s Iwuanyanwu Nationale in the African club championship to take his team to the finals where he was top goalscorer in the tournament with 10 goals. In this same year, he was among the nominees for the African Footballer of the Year
award.
The burly teenage striker
was taken up by SC Villa in 1984 from Pepsi. He had a successful eight-year stint at Villa Park, winning 6 league titles and 4 times winning the league's top goalscorer award, before joining Stade Rennais of France
in 1992.
In 1991, Villa had lost to Moneni Pirates of Swaziland
by 1-0 in the first leg of the African club championship but Musisi turned the deficit to a 2 -1 win in the second leg. In 2002 at Mbale municipal stadium, Mbale Heroes was leading Villa by 3-0 in a super league tie, until Musisi came off the bench to score 2 goals with in a space of five minutes, forcing the hosts to abort the game.
In some of his other memorable strikes, in 1992 in his last appearance in the blue and white shirt of SC Villa, before joining the paid ranks, he single handedly demolished KCC FC
as he was 4 times on the score sheet in the historical 5-0 league win at Masaka Recreation ground.
Before joining Rennes
in 1992, the Villa marksman attempted to break Jimmy Kirunda
’s record of 32 league goals when he scored 28 goals but departed for France
with 4 league games to go. At his scoring rate, striking 5 goals in four matches, he could have easily surpassed that record.
Musisi scored 138 Ugandan league goals between 1986 and 1992.
top-flight club Bursaspor
and later to Çanakkale Dardanelspor
for 1.8 billion Ugandan shillings transfer fee ($1 million), making a record in the transfer market for the most expensive Uganda import. In the 1996 season, he was voted Best Foreign Player of the Year in the Turkish league
. After playing in Turkey he had a spell playing for Da Nang
in Vietnam
. He founded the now famous Bursaspor crocodile walk goal celebration in 1995.
before joining Ggaba United where he ended his soccer career.
and won the 1989 and 1990 CECAFA Cup
titles with them. In 1996, he registered a hat trick with super headers in the Cranes 5-0 win over Rwanda
at Nakivubo in the 1998 African Cup of Nations
qualifiers.
, Eric Cantona
or Paul Gascoigne
, didn’t spare the Ugandan superstar as he used to often hit headlines on wrong notes, probably due to his stardom, illiteracy and love for alcohol despite being a Muslim
.
In some of the nasty incidents, he declined to forego the Cranes trip to Kinshasha against Zaire
in the 1994 African Cup of Nations
qualifiers in his famous “Mugende Mukafilemu” slogan, after FIFA
suspended his club captain Paul Hasule
for allegedly punching the referee in a league match. The Cranes needed a win to qualifier for the finals but only managed the draw.
In 1997, he was jailed for allegedly raping a 16-year-old student. He deliberately showed his butt to the late Villa chairman after some wrangling with him.
In 2002 the then Cranes technical director, Paul Ouma, forced him to pack his belongings and leave the Cranes Camp in Jinja
after taking alcohol to his team-mates.
In 2003, Musisi appeared on the pitch drunk and staggering during the Lugave vs Mamba
match in the Biika Bya Baganda finals.
No matter his off the pitch behaviors, Musisi will always remain in Uganda’s book of records for his Magic displays and passion for football.http://www.ugandapulse.com/articles/daily/homepage.asp?ID=238
Musisi died on Tuesday December 13, 2005 at 8 p.m. on the way to Nsambya Hospital from Kamwokya Christian Caring Centre where he was undergoing treatment of a long-term illness.
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
's best football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
player of all-time.
Musisi, who was Uganda’s first professional footballer to make it to Europe, started his career with second division side Mulago
Mulago
Mulago is a hill in north-central Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The hill rises above sea level.-History:Mulago was derived from the Ganda word “omulago”, a type of medicine, kept on this hill, that was used by Kabaka Suuna II for protection against spirits. The landmark on this hill is...
. His eye for goals caught the eye of several top clubs, with SC Villa
SC Villa
Villa Sports Club is a football club from Kampala in Uganda. They play their home games at the National Stadium. They are named after English side Aston Villa FC.-Overview:...
getting the most out of him. He had several nicknames, the most prominent being ‘Tyson’ and ‘Magic’ and, with Paul Hasule
Paul Hasule
Paul Edwin Hasule was a former captain and coach of The Cranes. He had been involved in the national team setup as player and coach for 25 years....
, was a work-horse and therefore rarely got injured.
Ugandan years
It is said he had such a high passion for scoring that he took it with him whether in training, a friendly match, or competitive matches. It is from here that the stout sniper started getting nicknames like 'Magic' because of his stupefying tactics to create and score goals, and “Tyson” for his physique in comparison with Mike TysonMike Tyson
Michael Gerard "Mike" Tyson is a retired American boxer. Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles, he was 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old...
, the then world’s heavyweight boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion.
Musisi inspired Villa to four league titles, the CECAFA Championships, the Hedex Cup and the most memorable ones, taking them to the finals of the Abiola Cup in 1992 and African Club Championships
CAF Cup
The CAF Cup was an annual competition organised by the CAF for domestic leagues runner-ups of member associations who haven't qualified to one of the two pre-existing CAF international club competitions the African Cup of Champions Clubs or the African Cup Winners' Cup.-Format:Only runner-ups of...
in 1991; he scored an equalizer in the dying minutes of the game against Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
’s Iwuanyanwu Nationale in the African club championship to take his team to the finals where he was top goalscorer in the tournament with 10 goals. In this same year, he was among the nominees for the African Footballer of the Year
African Footballer of the Year
The African Footballer of the Year award, presented to the best African football player each year, has been conferred by the Confederation of African Football since 1992. An earlier African Footballer of the Year Golden Ball award was given out between 1970 and 1994 by France Football magazine...
award.
The burly teenage striker
Striker
Forwards, also known as strikers, are the players on a team in association football who play nearest to the opposing team's goal, and are therefore principally responsible for scoring goals...
was taken up by SC Villa in 1984 from Pepsi. He had a successful eight-year stint at Villa Park, winning 6 league titles and 4 times winning the league's top goalscorer award, before joining Stade Rennais of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1992.
In 1991, Villa had lost to Moneni Pirates of Swaziland
Swaziland
Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of Swaziland , and sometimes called Ngwane or Swatini, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique...
by 1-0 in the first leg of the African club championship but Musisi turned the deficit to a 2 -1 win in the second leg. In 2002 at Mbale municipal stadium, Mbale Heroes was leading Villa by 3-0 in a super league tie, until Musisi came off the bench to score 2 goals with in a space of five minutes, forcing the hosts to abort the game.
In some of his other memorable strikes, in 1992 in his last appearance in the blue and white shirt of SC Villa, before joining the paid ranks, he single handedly demolished KCC FC
Kampala City Council FC
Kampala City Council FC, or short KCC, is a Ugandan football club from Kampala.The club was founded in 1967 as a welfare and socialising side for department of Kampala City Council civil engineering...
as he was 4 times on the score sheet in the historical 5-0 league win at Masaka Recreation ground.
Before joining Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
in 1992, the Villa marksman attempted to break Jimmy Kirunda
Jimmy Kirunda
Jimmy Kirunda is a former international football player and international football manager for the Uganda national football team.He participated in five Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaigns and captained Uganda in three of the final tournaments.He was manager of the national team between...
’s record of 32 league goals when he scored 28 goals but departed for France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
with 4 league games to go. At his scoring rate, striking 5 goals in four matches, he could have easily surpassed that record.
Musisi scored 138 Ugandan league goals between 1986 and 1992.
Foreign years
After spending two seasons with the Rennes in France, he was sold to the TurkishTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
top-flight club Bursaspor
Bursaspor
Bursaspor is a professional Turkish football club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, Bursaspor are nicknamed the Yeşil Timsahlar...
and later to Çanakkale Dardanelspor
Çanakkale Dardanelspor
Dardanel SAŞ is a sports club located in Çanakkale, Turkey. The team is named after the popular tuna fish brand which is located in Çanakkale. Dardanelspor plays in the TFF Second League.-History:...
for 1.8 billion Ugandan shillings transfer fee ($1 million), making a record in the transfer market for the most expensive Uganda import. In the 1996 season, he was voted Best Foreign Player of the Year in the Turkish league
Turkcell Super League
The Süper Lig is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system. It is one of the top leagues in the UEFA confederation and the winner of the competition automatically qualifies for the UEFA Champions League...
. After playing in Turkey he had a spell playing for Da Nang
Da Nang
Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...
in Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. He founded the now famous Bursaspor crocodile walk goal celebration in 1995.
Back in Uganda
In 2001, the hitman made a U-turn to his dear club SC Villa after Dardanelspor was relegated to a lower division. He guided SC Villa to the East African Hedex trophy and a Super League title. It is alleged that he was receiving 0.5 million shillings per game he featured in, an attribute to the quality of player he was, given that most Ugandan players barely get 0.1 million shillings per game. In 2002, he relocated to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
before joining Ggaba United where he ended his soccer career.
National team
Also, he played for the The CranesUganda national football team
The Uganda national football team, nicknamed The Cranes, is the national team of Uganda and is controlled by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations...
and won the 1989 and 1990 CECAFA Cup
CECAFA Cup
The CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup is the oldest football tournament in Africa. It is a tournament of FIFA and the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations , and includes national teams from Central and East Africa...
titles with them. In 1996, he registered a hat trick with super headers in the Cranes 5-0 win over Rwanda
Rwanda national football team
The Rwanda national football team, nicknamed Amavubi , is the national team of Rwanda and is controlled by the Fédération Rwandaise de Football Amateur...
at Nakivubo in the 1998 African Cup of Nations
African Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of Nations or African Nations Cup, officially CAN , is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football , and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been...
qualifiers.
The other side of Musisi
The social life characterized by soccer greats say George BestGeorge Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
, Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona
Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona is a French actor and former French international footballer. He played for Auxerre, Martigues, Marseille, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Nîmes and Leeds United before ending his professional footballing career at Manchester United, where he won four Premier League titles in...
or Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne
Paul John Gascoigne , commonly referred to as Gazza, is a retired English professional footballer.Playing in the position of midfield, Gascoigne's career included spells at Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers, Middlesbrough, Everton and Gansu Tianma, where he scored at least a goal...
, didn’t spare the Ugandan superstar as he used to often hit headlines on wrong notes, probably due to his stardom, illiteracy and love for alcohol despite being a Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
.
In some of the nasty incidents, he declined to forego the Cranes trip to Kinshasha against Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
in the 1994 African Cup of Nations
African Cup of Nations
The Africa Cup of Nations, also referred to as the African Cup of Nations or African Nations Cup, officially CAN , is the main international association football competition in Africa. It is sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football , and was first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been...
qualifiers in his famous “Mugende Mukafilemu” slogan, after FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
suspended his club captain Paul Hasule
Paul Hasule
Paul Edwin Hasule was a former captain and coach of The Cranes. He had been involved in the national team setup as player and coach for 25 years....
for allegedly punching the referee in a league match. The Cranes needed a win to qualifier for the finals but only managed the draw.
In 1997, he was jailed for allegedly raping a 16-year-old student. He deliberately showed his butt to the late Villa chairman after some wrangling with him.
In 2002 the then Cranes technical director, Paul Ouma, forced him to pack his belongings and leave the Cranes Camp in Jinja
Jinja, Uganda
Jinja is the largest town in Uganda, Africa. It is the second busiest commercial center in the country, after Kampala, Uganda's capital and only city. Jinja was established in 1907.-Location:...
after taking alcohol to his team-mates.
In 2003, Musisi appeared on the pitch drunk and staggering during the Lugave vs Mamba
Mamba
Mambas, of the genus Dendroaspis , are a group of highly venomous, fast-moving land-dwelling snakes of Africa. They belong to the family of Elapidae which includes cobras, coral snakes, taipans, brown snakes, tiger snakes, death adders, kraits and, debatably, sea snakes...
match in the Biika Bya Baganda finals.
No matter his off the pitch behaviors, Musisi will always remain in Uganda’s book of records for his Magic displays and passion for football.http://www.ugandapulse.com/articles/daily/homepage.asp?ID=238
Musisi died on Tuesday December 13, 2005 at 8 p.m. on the way to Nsambya Hospital from Kamwokya Christian Caring Centre where he was undergoing treatment of a long-term illness.