Hearts Starts Defence of African Title Today

Hearts of Oak make a belated start to the defence of their African Champions League title today, Sunday 15 April, when they play Etoile du Congo.

Hearts' first round, first leg match was postponed earlier this month because several key players were in Ghana's under-20 team for the African youth championship final in Ethiopia. The other Champions League teams compete in first round, second leg matches this weekend, as do clubs in the African Cup-Winners' Cup and Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup.

Hearts have been banished from their home ground in Accra to Ghana's second city of Kumasi, some 200 kilometres away, after rioting marred the second leg of last season's final against Tunisian team Esperance.

But the disadvantage of playing in a city where they have little popularity is limited because their opponents from the Congo are unlikely to cause any problems in the opening round. Hearts are still without defender Yaw Amankwah Mireku, who is completing a two-match suspension after being sent off in the first leg of last season's final, and Joe Ansah, who was not registered for the competition because he was about to be sold to a Turkish club only for the deal to fall through. Esperance take a surprisingly slender 1-0 lead to Niger for the return leg of their tie against unheralded JS Tenere in Niamey on Saturday.

The Tunisian team, who travelled with a squad hit by suspension and injury, are among several former Champions League winners whose progress this season hangs in the balance. TP Mazembe Englebert of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who last won the competition in 1968, have a one-goal advantage for their away match in Bangui against Anges de Fatima of the Central African Republic.

"Les Corbeaux", who come from the southern Congolese city of Lubumbashi, have spent a week preparing in the capital Kinshasa, including warm-up matches against the country's national team. Twice winners Raja Casablanca take a two-goal lead to Burkina Faso where they play army side USFA in Ouagadougou. But Raja's morale was dented by a heavy defeat earlier this month against arch-rivals Wydad Casablanca in the Moroccan championship.

South African club Mamelodi Sundowns could face a shock early exit to Costa do Sol in neighbouring Mozambique, having been held to a goalless draw in Pretoria in the first leg. The match goes ahead despite the cancellation of all weekend fixtures in South Africa following the death of 43 people on Wednesday in the Ellis Park stadium disaster in Johannesburg. Kaizer Chiefs, who played in that abandoned league match, were due to return to Ellis Park in the Cup-Winners' Cup against Stade Tamponnaise on Sunday night but the fixture has now been put back to next Wednesday.