Fourteen clubs will step onto the biggest stage in African club football for the first time when the CAF Champions League 2026/27 gets under way, bringing with them fresh stories, new ambitions and the hope of making an immediate impact.
They come from all corners of the continent, from Seychelles to Sierra Leone and Libya to Lesotho, with some having already sampled CAF interclub football and others preparing for their first continental adventure of any kind.
Since CAF introduced a solidarity payment of USD 100,000 for clubs who exit the Interclub competitions before the group stages, there has been a rise in the number of competing teams through the financial support.
The two legs of the First Round are scheduled for 4–6 September and 11–13 September.
Southern Africa provides three particularly intriguing debutants in Scottland FC of Zimbabwe, La Cure Waves of Mauritius and Lijabatho FC of Lesotho.
Scottland have enjoyed a remarkable rise through Zimbabwean football and will now test themselves against the continent’s best, while La Cure Waves and Lijabatho have also been rewarded for breakthrough domestic campaigns with a first appearance in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
They are joined among the newcomers by Seychelles champions Foresters FC, although the islanders are not complete strangers to continental competition having previously appeared in the CAF Confederation Cup.
That experience of travelling across the continent and dealing with the demands of two-legged knockout football could prove valuable as they step up to the Champions League.
Foresters are not alone in arriving with previous CAF interclub experience.
Equatorial Guinea’s 15 de Agosto, Zanzibar representatives KVZ FC and Djibouti’s AS Port have all competed in the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup before but will now get their first opportunity in Africa’s premier club competition. For them, this is a new level rather than an entirely new world.
Libya’s Swehly SC are another notable addition to the field and will carry the hopes of a country with a proud history in CAF interclub football.
Elsewhere, the competition will welcome Aiglons FC of Chad and Ethiopia’s Sidama Bunna, two clubs seeking to convert domestic success into continental progress.
West Africa supplies four more debutants. Star Sport Academy of Sierra Leone and Medina United FC of The Gambia are preparing for their first TotalEnergies CAF Champions League campaigns, while FC Canchungo of Guinea-Bissau and Benin’s SOBEMAP FC will also make their bows.
For clubs that have fought their way to the top domestically, simply reaching this stage represents a significant achievement. But history has repeatedly shown that newcomers need not be content merely to make up the numbers.
