Pain In Benni McCarthy’s Hometown as Harambee Stars Coach’s Ex-Team Suffers Relegation

Benni McCarthy's former team Cape Town City suffered relegation in South Africa. Photos: Cape Town City/FKF

Pain In Benni McCarthy’s Hometown as Harambee Stars Coach’s Ex-Team Suffers Relegation

Joel Omotto 22:34 - 25.06.2025

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy is among those feeling the pain after his hometown club, which gave him first head coach job, suffered relegation in South Africa.

Harambee Stars coach Benni McCarthy must be among those feeling disappointed following the relegation of his former club Cape Town City FC from the South African top flight.

Cape Town City shockingly lost the Premier Soccer League’s promotion-relegation playoff to second tier side Orbit College following a 1-0 loss in the second of the two-legged tie.

It was a bitter result to swallow for the club supporters given they have some of the best players in South Africa on their books but still struggled to stay afloat before finally going down.

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Cape Town are the team that offered McCarthy his first job as head coach, taking over his hometown club in July 2017, and he led the club to fifth place in the South African top flight in the 2017-18 season.

Benni Won Cape Town City’s Last Trophy

In that year, he also won the MTN8, the club’s second trophy following their Telkom Knockout win in 2016, and since then, the Citizens have not won another trophy.

While they have gone on to record another fifth place, fourth place twice and runners-up once, this season has been the worst-ever for Cape Town City as they have gone through three coaches but still ended up in 15th place which meant a two-legged relegation-promotion playoff to retain their top flight status that has now ended in pain.

McCarthy was sacked in November 2019, nearly halfway through his second season, but up to date, he remains the coach who won the club’s last trophy