Mamelodi Sundowns will not defend their CAF Champions League title in the group stage after Angola’s Wiliete SC knocked them out on away goals, one of the results that settled the 2026/27 field.
The Confederation of African Football confirmed the 16 qualifiers Monday, a day after the second preliminary round wrapped up. Wiliete, a club founded only in 2018, drew 0-0 at home in Lubango and 1-1 in Pretoria. That was enough to send the holders home and rank the tie among the competition’s bigger upsets.
South Africa still has a flag bearer
Orlando Pirates cruised past Namibia’s African Stars 5-0 on aggregate, winning the return leg 4-0.
Egypt will have two sides in the draw. Zamalek, a five-time champion, got past Rwanda’s APR FC, and Pyramids, the 2025 African champions, beat South Sudan’s El Merriekh Bentiu. Their rivals Al Ahly are absent from the competition for the first time in 23 years after failing to qualify through the Egyptian league. They are playing in the Confederation Cup instead.
Several big names had to sweat
Four-time champions Espérance trailed Libya’s Swehly SC after the first leg, then won 3-1 on penalties. MC Alger lost the first leg 2-0 to Nigeria’s Rangers International, only to score three unanswered goals in the second half of the return. Angola’s Petro Atlético came from two goals down to beat Zimbabwe’s Scottland FC 3-0 in Luanda and edge through 3-2 on aggregate.
Elsewhere, Tunisia’s Club Africain knocked out five-time champions TP Mazembe of DR Congo, winning 2-1 on aggregate. Morocco’s MAS de Fès beat Côte d’Ivoire’s ASEC Mimosas 2-1 late on to go through 3-2, and RS Berkane eased past Sierra Leone’s Star Sport Academy 3-0 over two legs. Mauritania’s FC Nouadhibou turned around a first-leg defeat against FC San Pedro to win 3-2 and reach the group stage for only the second time. Guinea’s Horoya completed the field by beating Sudan’s Al Merriekh on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.
Tanzania’s Simba SC and Young Africans both advanced with big margins. So did Sudan’s Al Hilal Omdurman, who beat Ethiopia’s Sidama Bunna 4-0 on aggregate, and Cameroon’s Colombe Sportive, who beat Senegal’s Teungueth FC 3-0. No club from Nigeria or Ghana made the cut.
The full list is Al Hilal Omdurman, Club Africain, Colombe Sportive, Espérance, FC Nouadhibou, Horoya, MAS de Fès, MC Alger, Orlando Pirates, Petro Atlético, Pyramids, RS Berkane, Simba SC, Wiliete SC, Young Africans and Zamalek.
Those 16 will learn their groups Wednesday, Oct. 28, when CAF holds the draw at the Egyptian Football Association’s headquarters in Cairo. It starts at 3 p.m. local time, noon GMT. The clubs will be split into four groups of four, and the top two in each will move on to the quarterfinals. The winner of the tournament takes home a record $6 million.
Matches begin in late November. The six matchdays are scheduled to run from Nov. 27 into late January, so the picture of who faces whom will come into focus fast.
