2026–27 CAF Champions League Preliminary Draw Date Announced

Rabat — The road to Africa’s next Champions League campaign now has a date circled in pencil.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has, according to Moroccan outlet El Botola, earmarked August 6 for the preliminary draw of the 2026–27 CAF Champions League, with Cairo set to host the first formal act of the new season. The timing is no accident: the ceremony will be staged only once the club registration window closes and national associations have rubber‑stamped the squads of all participating teams.

Only then will the names go into the bowls.

CAF’s Club Competitions Committee, cited by El Botola, has also drawn a firm line on format. The body has turned down a proposal from the Egyptian Football Association to expand the number of clubs in CAF’s interclub competitions, opting instead to protect the current structure for the 2026–27 season. No extra places, no expanded brackets, no reshuffle of the ladder to the group stage.

The message is clear: stability over experimentation.

For Moroccan football, the picture is already sharply defined. RS Berkane and Maghreb de Fès will carry the country’s flag in next season’s CAF Champions League, each eyeing a long run on the continent and a place among Africa’s elite when the competition reaches its group phase.

The preliminary draw in Cairo will sketch the first hurdles in that journey, setting up the opening ties for clubs across the continent who all believe, at this early stage, that they can fight their way into Africa’s premier club competition proper.