Hearts Gear Up For Stade

Accra Hearts of Oak, one of the nation's representatives in this year's CAF Champions League, will play as guests of Stade Malien in the first leg preliminary round match of the competition in Bamako on Sunday.

The match comes off barely two weeks after the appointment of Hearts' new German coach, Ernst Middendorp.

For Hearts, Stade Malien are no newcomers as they eliminated the Phobians in 2002 via a 4-2 aggregate under Ghanaian coach, Abdul Razak.

This could therefore be payback time for Hearts who are bent on repeating their 2000 Champions League feat.

In two separate preparatory matches for Sunday's duel, Hearts lost 1-2 to the Black Stars last Friday and beat Great Olympics by the same margin at the Accra Stadium last Sunday to win the AIDS Cup.

Meanwhile, champion club Kumasi Asante Kotoko who were also scheduled to play hosts to AS Tempe te Mocaf in Kumasi on Sunday have had a walkover following the withdrawal of the Central African Republic club.