African Champions League: The four groups are set, 11 countries represented and 24,000 km for Berkane

The sixteen clubs qualified for the group stage of the 2026-2027 CAF Champions League have known their opponents since the draw held on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters in Cairo. Eleven countries are represented, from the Maghreb to Southern Africa, and the titleholder is not among them.

The four groups

In Group A, Espérance de Tunis will face Petro Atlético, FC Nouadhibou (Mauritania), and Wiliete SC, meaning two trips to Angola. Group B brings together Zamalek (Egypt), Young Africans (Tanzania), MC Alger, and Club Africain, featuring a Maghreb derby between the latter two.

Group C pits RS Berkane (Morocco) against Simba SC (Tanzania), Orlando Pirates (South Africa), and Colombe Sportive of Cameroon. Group D matches Pyramids FC (Egypt), the 2025 African champion, against Al Hilal Omdurman (Sudan), Horoya AC of Guinea, and MAS de Fès.

Mamelodi Sundowns, winner of the last edition, was eliminated in the second preliminary round by Wiliete SC, which is therefore competing in the group stage in its place.

Geography, that additional opponent

The travel figures speak to the vastness of the continent as much as the demands of the competition: RS Berkane will have to cover approximately 24,000 km and Espérance de Tunis some 18,000 km during the group stage alone, according to Afrik-Foot. It is a schedule that European clubs, who complain about journeys of a few hours, do not experience.

The schedule and the financial stakes

The CAF has set the first matchday for November 27-29, 2026, and the sixth for January 22-24, 2027. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, scheduled as two-legged ties from February 26-28 and March 5-7, 2027. The semi-finals will be played in April, and the final between May 9 and May 31, 2027.

The prize money remains unchanged, according to the CAF: 6 million dollars for the winner of the Champions League and 4 million for the winner of the Confederation Cup, whose group stage begins on the same weekend in November. For clubs whose annual budgets are often in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, these bonuses represent several seasons of revenue—and the main reason why the continental competition carries so much weight in African sporting projects.

The first deadline, therefore, is November 27, 2026.