Official: B.McCarthy will play for "Blackburn" © EuroFootball.com

On Friday, the club officially announced that the team's jersey will be worn by South African national team forward Benni, who has signed a 4-year contract with the club.

"We tried to acquire Benni 12 months ago and have been following the situation since then. We decided that we could attract him to Blackburn Rovers," said Blackburn team president John Williams on the club's website.

The 28-year-old B. McCarthy helped Porto win the Champions League in 2004, but when he left the club to join Chelsea, coached by Jose Mourinho, he prepared to move to England.

Although the footballer was one of the best South African players for almost 10 years, he had difficulty with the federation because European clubs were reluctant to release him for national team matches.

After leaving the national team following the 2002 World Cup, he returned a year later, scoring 26 goals in over 60 matches for the team.