Majid Musisi
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Majid Musisi Mukiibi (born September 15, 1967, died December 13, 2005) is regarded by many as Ugandas 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.
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[edit] 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 nick names like 'Magic' because of his stupefying tactics to create and score goals, and “Tyson” for his physique in comparison with Mike Tyson, 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 dieing 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 jersey 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.
[edit] Foreign years
After spending two seasons with the French side, Rennes, he was sold to the Turkish top-flight club Bursaspor and later to Çanakkale Dardanelspor for 1.8 billion Ugandan shillings transfer fee ($1 milliom), 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.
[edit] 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 London before joining Ggaba United where he ended his soccer career.
[edit] National Team
Also, he played for the The Cranes 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.
[edit] The other side of Musisi
The social life characterized by soccer greats say George Best, Éric 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.[1]
Musisi passed away 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.
[edit] Clubs
| 1982 - 1983 | Mulago |
| 1983 - 1984 | Pepsi |
| 1985 - 1992 | SC Villa |
| 1992 - 1995 | Stade Rennes |
| 1995 - 1999 | Bursaspor |
| 1999 - 2000 | Dardanelspor |
| 2000 - 2003 | SC Villa |
| 2003 - 2005 | Kampala United |
[edit] References
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