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Soccer News of Friday, 11 July 2003

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It's Rwanda Again!!

The draw for quarter-finals of the African Cup Winners' Cup has taken place at the Caf headquarters in Cairo.

Ghana has been given a chance to extract some measure of revenge from Rwanda after their African Nations Cup humiliation.

The national teams of the two countries met in Kigali last Sunday with Rwanda pulling off an upset 1-0 win to qualify for the Nations Cup finals for the first time at the expense of four-times winners Ghana.

And the pairing of Asante Kotoko against the Rwandese army team APR FC in the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup, brought the biggest reaction at the draw ceremony.

Summary
Africa Sports (Ivory Coast) v Etoile Sahel (Tunisia)
Power Dynamos (Zambia) v Wydad Casablanca (Morocco)
Asante Kotoko (Ghana) v APR FC (Rwanda)
Baladeyet Al Mahalla (Egypt) v Julius Berger (Nigeria)

Champions League

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League took place at the same time. Ghana's representative, Accra Hearts of Oak, were kicked out in the last round by Aviacao (Angola)

Ivorian club ASEC Mimosas, who won the Champions League five years ago, are in group A with Enyimba of Nigeria, Ismailia of Egypt and newcomers Simba of Tanzania.

ASEC start their campaign at home to Ismailia, whose last success in the tournament was back in 1969.

Tunisia's Esperance are at home to Canon Yaounde of Cameroon in their opening match in group B. Also drawn in their group were USM Alger of Algeria and the Angolan club AS Aviacao.

The first round of group matches will be played between 8th -10th August, with the mini-league phase concluding on the weekend of 17th-19th October.

The two top teams from each group go into the two-legged semi-finals, to be played between 31 October and 16 November.

The winners of the competition will pocket $950,000, with $50,000 going to the national association of the winning team.

Summary
Group A: ASEC (Ivory Coast), Ismailia (Egypt), Enyimba (Nigeria), Simba (Tanzania)
Group B: Esperance (Tunisia), Canon Yaounde (Cameroon), USMA (Algeria), Aviacao (Angola)

CAF Cup

In the Caf Cup, the favourites JS Kabylie of Algeria and Egypt's Al Ahli were kept apart.

Al Ahli are up against Enugu Rangers in the quarter-finals while JS Kabylie's quest for an unprecedented fourth successive title takes them next to Cotonsport of Cameroon.

Caf Cup:
Black Rhinos (Zimbabwe) v Raja Casablanca (Morocco)
Rangers International (Nigeria) v Al Ahly(Egypt)
JS Kabylie (Algeria) v Cotonsport (Cameroon)
Club Africain (Tunisia) v Green Buffaloes (Zambia)

Thursday's draw in Cairo was preceded by a poignant moment's silence for March-Vivien Foe and a video tribute to the Cameroon international, who collapsed and died during the Confederations Cup in France last month.