FOOTBALL – RIFFA emerged in a tough pool yesterday for the preliminary round of the 2026-27 Gulf Club Champions League.
The Gulf Football Federation (GFF) conducted the official draw for the exciting group stage of the region’s premier club competition, held virtually at the GFF’s headquarters in Doha.
Set to kick off on October 13, this third edition of the tournament will feature a home-and-away opening phase contested between the 12 participating clubs, who were divided yesterday into three groups of four.
They were placed in four pots for the draw, in accordance with the Asian Football Confederation’s club rankings for the 2026-27 campaign, with regulations ensuring that clubs from the same member association were not drawn into the same group.
Riffa will be competing in Group B alongside Al Nasr SC of the UAE, Qatar SC of Qatar, and Erbil SC of Iraq. Group A features Neom SC from Saudi Arabia, Al Duhail SC from Qatar, Al Shabab SC from Oman, and Shaab Hadramaut SC from Yemen. Group C is composed of Al Ettifaq SC of Saudi, Ajman SC of the UAE, Erbil SC from Iraq, and Kazma SC from Kuwait.
Following the double round-robin preliminaries, the top two teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, together with the two best third-placed sides, with all ties contested over two legs.
The 2026-27 Gulf Club Champions League represents the largest field in the competition’s history, with the field expanded from eight clubs to 12, providing a number of high-profile fixtures as the region’s leading teams compete for Gulf football’s most prestigious club title.
The group stage is scheduled to conclude on February 17 next year. It will be followed by the round of eight from March 2 to 17, and then the semi-finals and final scheduled to take place from April 23 to 30.
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