Kotoko & Hearts to play in South Africa

GHANAIAN CLUB sides Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Accra Hearts of Oak have been invited to play in a four-team tournament in South Africa.

The VODACOM African Challenge which will also feature the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs, would see the winner taking $US 60,000 as prize money.

The invitation for The Porcupine Warriors has been kept a secret, but will officially be announced this morning at Vodaworld in Johannesburg where sponsors VODACOM are based.

Hearts of Oak were invited by virtue of their position as African Champions.

Herbert Mensah, the board chairman of Asante Kotoko together with Hearts of Oak's Harry Zakkour are currently in South Africa for the official launching of the tournament worth $US120,000.

The organisers have given the tournament the theme "the healing process," in memory of the fans that lost their lives in the Accra Sports Stadium tragedy, which claimed 126 lives after a league game between Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak.

ALSO TO be commemorated are the 43 fans who were killed in the Ellis Park stampede, that occurred during a game that involved South Africa's two top sides, the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs.

The format of the competition seeds the Orlando Pirates and the Kaizer Chiefs against Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak.

The first round games are to be played in either Bloemfontein or Rustenburg on June 30.

The losers of the two first games will then play each other for the third and fourth place while the winners will battle it out for the tournament title.

The finals will be held in the South African city of Durban.