Al-Ittihad’s AFC Champions League Elite campaign opens with four home ties

Al-Ittihad will begin their 2026-27 AFC Champions League Elite campaign with an eight-match league-phase schedule, including four fixtures at home and four away under the competition’s revised format.

The Saudi club will face opponents from across the western region, with matches against teams from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Uzbekistan. Their results across the eight games will determine whether they progress to the knockout stages and remain in contention for the AFC Champions League Elite title.

At home, Al-Ittihad will play Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates, along with Qatar’s Al Gharafa and Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor.

Their away fixtures will be against Al Sadd and Al Shamal of Qatar, Al Wasl of the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan’s Neftchi.

The schedule gives Al-Ittihad an immediate challenge in the league phase, bringing together opponents representing different footballing traditions within the western region. The club will need to collect strong results across both sets of fixtures if they are to secure qualification for the knockout rounds.

Al-Ittihad’s home matches will be against:

– Al Ain – Shabab Al Ahli – Al Gharafa – Pakhtakor

Their away matches will be against:

– Al Sadd – Al Wasl – Neftchi – Al Shamal

The 2026-27 edition will be the 45th staging of Asia’s leading club competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It will also be the third edition since the tournament was renamed the AFC Champions League Elite.

The new season represents another significant change in the competition’s development. On 24 April 2026, the Asian Football Confederation announced that the number of clubs competing in the league phase would increase from 24 to 32.

Those 32 teams will be divided between the western and eastern regions, with 16 clubs in each. Al-Ittihad’s eight fixtures will therefore form part of the enlarged western-region league phase.

The revised structure means the Saudi side will have to manage a varied programme of home and away matches before the knockout stage begins. Four of their opponents will visit Al-Ittihad, while the club will travel to face the other four teams on their league-phase schedule.

With the competition expanding and the draw bringing together clubs from three different countries, Al-Ittihad face a demanding route through the western section. Their objective will be to produce the best possible results over the eight matches, secure a place in the knockout rounds and continue their pursuit of the AFC Champions League Elite crown.