Jomo Sono: Soweto's Black Prince of Soccer, His Club, Caps and Net Worth

Jomo Sono is Ephraim Matsilele Sono, the Orlando Pirates player born in Orlando East, Soweto, on 17 July 1955, who played beside Pelé at the New York Cosmos in 1977. In 1982 he bought Highlands Park and renamed it Jomo Cosmos, and in 1998 he took South Africa to the Africa Cup of Nations final as caretaker coach. To most of Mzansi he is simply Bra J, the soccer man whose career connects Soweto with North America's Pelé era.

If you have only heard the name in passing, think of him the way you might think of an old family house that every relative has a story about. Everyone knows him, but few people know every room. The sections below cover the clubs he played for, the club he has owned since 1982, the caps question and the reported net worth figures. His story matters to readers in Lagos, Nairobi, Accra and Kampala as much as it does in Soweto.

Who Is Jomo Sono, the Man Soweto Calls Bra J?

Jomo Sono's soccer career spans playing, club ownership and national team coaching, and he carries three names that every township soccer fan recognises: Bra J, Mjomana and the Black Prince of South African Soccer. Bra J is the respectful, brotherly form that older fans still use. Mjomana is the warmer township version you hear on the street and on the radio. The Black Prince title belongs to his playing peak, when a boy from Orlando East carried the hopes of Soweto onto every field he played on.

The name Jomo itself has a Kenyan root, which gives readers in Nairobi and Kampala a natural way into his story. An Orlando Pirates fan compared the young player's leadership to that of Jomo Kenyatta, and the name stuck for life. Pirates were in the family before that, too. His father, Eric 'Scara' Bamuza Sono, played midfield for the Buccaneers in the 1960s, and he died in a car crash when Jomo was about eight. When Jomo pulled on the black and white, he was continuing something his father had started.

The Road From Orlando East: Every Club Jomo Sono Played For

Jomo Sono played for Orlando Pirates, then moved to the North American Soccer League with the New York Cosmos in 1977, the Colorado Caribous in 1978 and the Atlanta Chiefs in 1979. He also played for Toronto Blizzard. No transfer fee has been reported for any of these moves in the encyclopaedia and history records. The table below therefore marks every fee as not reported, rather than guessing at a number.

Pirates were his first club, giving his North American career its Soweto starting point. For supporters across Africa, that connection places a South African player within the story of the NASL.

The move to the New York Cosmos in 1977 is the chapter readers in Nigeria and Ghana tend to know best. That was the Pelé era of the NASL, the league that drew famous names from across the world, and Sono shared a dressing room with the Brazilian. From there he went to the Colorado Caribous in 1978 and the Atlanta Chiefs in 1979, which shows a player wanted by more than one American club in quick succession.

Toronto Blizzard was another part of his North American career. Sono received honourable mentions in the NASL All Star teams of 1980 and 1981.

Which Club Does Jomo Sono Play For Now?

Sono's connection to Jomo Cosmos is as its owner and founder. He bought Highlands Park in 1982 and renamed it after his old New York team. Some sources date the purchase to January 1983 and say the club was first called Dion Cosmos.

Jomo Cosmos has a proper trophy cabinet. The club won the National Soccer League in 1987, the Bobsave Super Bowl in 1990, the Coca-Cola Cup in 2002 and the Super Eight in 2003. Its league, its place on the log and its fixtures appear in the live modules, which update after every match. Cosmos also connects Sono's ownership story with the players he discovered or developed, including Philemon Masinga and Helman Mkhalele.

What Did Jomo Sono Do on the Pitch?

Sono's playing career took him from Orlando Pirates to four North American clubs. Those moves connect his South African beginnings with the NASL, while his honours offer another way to understand his standing as a player.

The 1977 season with the Cosmos is the defining chapter. Sharing a squad with Pelé gave Sono a place in the Brazilian's North American story. For a reader in Accra or Lagos who grew up hearing about the Pelé years in America, Sono is an African connection to that era.

The honourable mentions in the NASL All Star teams of 1980 and 1981 matter because they came several seasons into his time abroad. They add individual recognition to a North American career that included four clubs.

At home, the respect has stayed with him. He ranked 49th in the 2004 'Top 100 Great South Africans' poll, a public vote that placed a soccer man among the country's best known figures. His eye for a player also shaped his contribution to South African soccer. Philemon Masinga, Helman Mkhalele, Sizwe Motaung and Mark Fish are all credited as players he discovered or developed.

Jomo Sono and Bafana Bafana: Why He Has No Caps, and the Coaching Years

Sanctions meant Sono never earned an official international cap. South Africa was suspended from FIFA in 1961 and returned in 1992. His contribution to the national team came through technical advice, player development and coaching.

Readers of a certain generation in Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya will understand this straight away, because they followed the sporting boycott of apartheid South Africa from the other side. The boycott was aimed at the system, but it also meant that a generation of black South African players, Sono among them, never had the chance to play an official international. He did not choose that absence, and his reputation is built entirely on club soccer and on what he gave the national team later.

What he gave was considerable. He served as technical adviser to coach Clive Barker, and his recruits formed the core of the South Africa side that won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. The players he had found at Cosmos connected his work as a club owner with Bafana Bafana's 1996 title. That is a rare kind of national team record, written without a single cap.

He then stepped into the dugout himself as caretaker coach. At the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations he took South Africa all the way to the final, where they lost to Egypt, and he was in charge again at the 2002 World Cup. His son Bamuza Sono also represented South Africa, extending the family's national team connection.

Jomo Sono net worth

SportsBrief put Jomo Sono's estimated wealth at about USD 20 million in a 2025 report, tying the figure to Jomo Cosmos and listing him in its 2024/25 ranking of South African club owners. This is an unaudited published estimate.

Briefly News described his business empire as 'worth over R600 million' in 2025, covering hospitality, energy, mining, technology and retail. The report gave no source for that valuation and supplied no salary or endorsement amounts.

The figures describe different measures: SportsBrief presented an estimate of Sono's wealth, while Briefly News described the value of his business empire. A business valuation does not establish an owner's personal net worth. Neither report supplies audited evidence that would allow the two figures to be reconciled.

The dollar and rand amounts should retain their original currencies and reporting years. Converting either into another currency would require a dated exchange rate and would not make the underlying estimate more precise.

How to Watch the Jomo Sono Story From Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda

The way to follow Jomo Sono's soccer world is through Jomo Cosmos, whose fixtures, results and log position sit in the live modules and update after every match. South African kick off times are set in SAST, so a 15:00 SAST kick off is 13:00 GMT in Accra, 14:00 WAT in Lagos and 16:00 EAT in Nairobi and Kampala. Where to watch in each country is shown in the module, because broadcast arrangements change from season to season.

For the playing years, most fans watch on mobile. Highlights and archive clips of the Pirates and Cosmos years circulate on YouTube and social media, and older supporters in Soweto still know his story best from radio and television retrospectives. Readers in Kenya and Uganda may enjoy starting with the Kenyatta naming story, while readers in Nigeria and Ghana will find the New York Cosmos footage of the Pelé era the easiest way in.

No Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian or Ugandan club link to Sono has been found, so the connection for those readers is cultural and historical rather than a transfer or contract. His name, his NASL years and his eye for young talent are what travel across the continent. To place him alongside the players who followed him abroad, browse our African soccer players pages, then check the Cosmos module before the next kick off.