Five former winners in African Champions draw

Five former winners are entered for next year's African Champions League with the draw for the 2001 event to be conducted in Accra on December 16, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Saturday. The list also includes Ghana's Hearts of Oak, who are hot favourites to win their first continental title when they host Esperance of Tunisia in the second leg of this year's Champions League final in Accra on December 17.

Hearts have a 2-1 lead from the first leg away in Tunisia earlier this month and like Esperance will be back to compete next year, irrespective of next weekend's second leg outcome. The five previous winners include Esperance, as well as Egypt's Al Ahli, ASEC Abidjan of the Ivory Coast, Morocco's Raja Casablanca and TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose two African titles were won in 1967 and 1968. A disappointing total of 37 countries have entered in next year's event, the first time that CAF have imposed a US$25 000 entry fee on all participating clubs to cover travel costs for match officials.

In the African Cup Winners' Cup, there are just 33 entries out of CAF's 52 members while the CAF Cup will see just over half of the African countries sending a representative. Among the surprise failures to enter are South African team Orlando Pirates in the CAF Cup and Zimbabwe's Dynamos in the African Cup Winners' Cup. Pirates were African champions ion 1995 and Dynamos reached the final two years ago.