2026–27 GFF Gulf Club Champions League
| دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية 2026–27 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 13 October 2026 – 30 April 2027 |
| Teams | 12 (from 1 confederation) (from 8 associations) |
← 2025–26 | |
The 2026–27 GFF Gulf Club Champions League will be the 33rd edition of the GFF Gulf Club Champions League, a football competition for clubs from the eight member nations of the Gulf Football Federation (GFF), and the first under a new 12-team format.
Al-Rayyan were the reigning champions, but they will be unable to defend their title as they have instead qualified for the AFC Champions League Two.
Association team allocation
The team entries allocation was based on the AFC club competitions ranking for the 2026–27 season.[1][2]
| Participation for 2026–27 GFF Gulf Club Champions League | |
|---|---|
| Participating | |
| Not participating | |
| Ranking | Association | Group stage slots | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GFF | AFC | ||
| 1 | 1 |  Saudi Arabia | 2 |
| 2 | 4 |  United Arab Emirates | 2 |
| 3 | 5 |  Qatar | 2 |
| 4 | 12 |  Iraq | 2 |
| 5 | 16 |  Bahrain | 1 |
| 6 | 17 |  Oman | 1 |
| 7 | 21 |  Kuwait | 1 |
| 8 | 43 |  Yemen | 1 |
Teams
| Team | Qualification method | App. (last) |
|---|---|---|
| Al-Ettifaq |
2025–26 Saudi Pro League seventh place | 8th (2024–25) |
| Neom |
2025–26 Saudi Pro League eighth place | 1st |
| Al-Nasr |
2025–26 UAE Pro League sixth place | 6th (2024–25) |
| Ajman |
2025–26 UAE Pro League seventh place | 1st |
| Al-Duhail |
2025–26 Qatar Stars League fifth place | 1st |
| Qatar SC |
2025–26 Qatar Stars League sixth place | 5th (2009) |
| Erbil |
2025–26 Iraq Stars League third place | 1st |
| Al-Zawraa |
2025–26 Iraq Stars League fourth place | 1st |
| Al-Riffa |
2025–26 Bahraini Premier League third place | 13th (2024–25) |
| Al-Shabab |
2025–26 Oman Professional League runners-up | 2nd (2013) |
| Kazma |
2025–26 Kuwaiti Premier League fourth place | 8th (2015) |
| Al-Shaab Hadramaut |
2025–26 Yemeni League leaders[Note YEM] | 1st |
- Notes
- ^ Yemen (YEM): The 2025–26 Yemeni League was still ongoing at the time of the draw. The league leaders at the time, Al-Shaab Hadramaut, were selected to participate.
Draw
The draw was held on 24 August 2026.[3] The 12 teams were drawn into three groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots.[4]
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Al-Ettifaq Neom Al-Nasr |
Ajman Al-Duhail Qatar SC |
Erbil Al-Zawraa Al-Shabab |
Al-Riffa Kazma Al-Shaab Hadramaut |
Group stage
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
|
Group A
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | NEO | DUH | SHB | SHD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Neom |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage | — | ||||
| 2 | Al-Duhail |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |||||
| 3 | Al-Shabab |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Possible knockout stage based on ranking | — | ||||
| 4 | Al-Shaab Hadramaut |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
First match(es) will be played: 13 October 2026. Source: GSA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Group B
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | NSR | QAT | ZAW | RIF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Nasr |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage | — | ||||
| 2 | Qatar SC |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |||||
| 3 | Al-Zawraa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Possible knockout stage based on ranking | — | ||||
| 4 | Al-Riffa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
First match(es) will be played: 13 October 2026. Source: GSA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Group C
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ETT | AJM | ERB | KAZ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al-Ettifaq |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage | — | ||||
| 2 | Ajman |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | |||||
| 3 | Erbil |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Possible knockout stage based on ranking | — | ||||
| 4 | Kazma |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
First match(es) will be played: 13 October 2026. Source: GSA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
Ranking of third-placed teams
The two best third-placed teams from the three groups advance to the knockout stage along with the three group winners and three runners-up.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | Al-Shabab |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | B | Al-Zawraa |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 3 | C | Erbil |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
First match(es) will be played: 13 October 2026. Source: GSA
Knockout stage
The knockout stage will be held on a home-and-away basis, with the quarter-final matches taking place from 2–17 March 2027, and the semi-finals and final taking place from 23–30 April 2027.[5]
Bracket
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||||||||
Prize money and awards
Prize money
| Position | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Champions | 3,000,000 |
| Runners-up | 1,000,000 |
Source:[6]
See also
References
- ↑ "الاتحاد الخليجي لكرة القدم يمنح العراق مقعدين في النسخة المقبلة من دوري الأبطال" (in Arabic). Al-Sumaria. 2 June 2026.
- ↑ "AFC Men's Club Competitions Ranking 2024/25" (PDF). the-afc.com. Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 4 October 2025.
- ↑ "Gulf Club Champions League draw to be held on Aug 24th". Al-Kass English. 5 August 2026.
- ↑ "قرعة مرحلة دور المجموعات تحدد مسار النسخة الثالثة من دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية لكرة القدم 2026-2027" (in Arabic). Gulf Football Federation. 24 August 2026.
- ↑ "الاتحاد الخليجي لكرة القدم يكشف عن الشعار الجديد لبطولة دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية 2026-2027" (in Arabic). Gulf Football Federation. 22 August 2026.
- ↑ "قرعة بطولة دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية لكرة القدم تضع العربي على رأس المجموعة الثانية" (in Arabic). QNA. 23 September 2024.
