Intense club rivalry behind Accra stadium tragedy

JOHANNESBURG, May 10 (Reuters)(DS) - The rivalry between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko, the two Ghanaian sides at the centre of Wednesday's tragedy in Accra, is one of the oldest in African club football.

Hearts are the reigning African champions and in recent years have taken Asante Kotoko's crown as the leading Ghanaian club side.

Four successive league titles, including the 'triple' last year of the championship and two cups, have seen Hearts dominate soccer in Ghana in recent times.

The rivalry is further intensified by the fact that Hearts hail from the capital Accra, while Kotoko are based in the country's second largest city, Kumasi, the seat of the traditional Asante kingdom.

Hearts of Oak topped their domestic achievements last year by winning the African Champions League in December, beating heavily-favoured Esperance of Tunisia 5-2 on aggregate over two legs in the final.

The win made Hearts only the second Ghanaian side to claim the biggest prize in African club football and qualified them for the lucrative World Club Championship in Spain in July. Asante Kotoko were the only previous winners, taking the title in 1970 and 1983 and appearing in a further five finals between 1967 and 1993.

Both sides are among the oldest on the continent - Hearts being founded 90 years ago and Asante Kotoko in 1926. Kotoko have long enjoyed passionate support and include new Ghanaian president John Kufuor among their former chairmen. The side were at the forefront of Ghana's dominance of African football in the late 1950s and early 1960s, providing most of the players for the all-conquering Ghana national team of that era.

"Their achievements are rich and have given them a reputation rarely contested in regional and continental club football," writes journalist Faouzi Mahjoub in his book on the history of African football.

Hearts, formed by youngsters from the Ussher Town district of Accra in 1911, were the first national champions in Ghana in 1958 -- after a league was consolidated out of the various provincial championships.

Kotoko won the next championship, starting a bitter rivalry that has continued ever since.