CHELSEA player manager Ruud Gullit has been asked by Nelson Mandela to return to the Dutch national team for a special friendly match against South Africa in June.

"Gullit has received an invitation, but so far we don't know if he will accept it," a spokeswoman for the Dutch soccer federation said yesterday. The friendly international in Johannesburg on June 1st is billed as the Nelson Mandela Inauguration Challenge, an annual event since 1994.

Gull it has in the past professed "huge admiration for the South "African leader. In 1987, when the "former Feyenoord and AC Milan player was named European Footballer of the Year, he dedicated his prize to Mandela at the time still in prison.

Gullit has said an invitation from Mandela would be a great honour and one he would be pleased to accept, assuming he recovers from the ankle injury which has ruled him out of the rest of Chelsea's matches this season.

He has not played for the Dutch national team since he walked away from preparations ahead of the 1994 World Cup in the United States after a disagreement over tactics.

Diego Maradona, picked to "play for the Rest of the World against Europe in Barcelona on April 27th, left an exclusive Buenos Aires hospital yesterday after, five days of checks for high blood pressure.