Wiliete in, giants out

The 2026/27 CAF Champions League group stage will go ahead without defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns or TP Mazembe. Wiliete SC and Club Africain eliminated the two continental heavyweights in the second preliminary round, which concluded on Sunday 25 October. All sixteen qualifiers now await Wednesday’s draw in Cairo, scheduled for 12:00 GMT on 28 October, or 13:00 in Brazzaville.

Wiliete’s achievement begins with an unusual result: they did not win either leg against Sundowns, yet secured qualification. A goalless first leg in Angola was followed by a 1-1 draw in Pretoria on Friday 23 October. Their away goal decided the tie, sending the Angolan club through at the holders’ expense.

Tashreeq Matthews had put Sundowns ahead, but Mabululu equalised soon after the interval. That left the South African side needing another goal, which never came. Founded in 2018, Wiliete have reached the group stage for the first time. Their next challenge will be to sustain that achievement through the group stage against opponents still to be drawn.

Club Africain also removed one of the competition’s most decorated names. A 1-0 win at Radès on Sunday followed the first leg’s 1-1 draw in Lubumbashi, giving the Tunisian side a 2-1 aggregate victory. Five-time African champions TP Mazembe therefore miss out on the group stage.

A goal just before half-time gave Club Africain the advantage they protected until the final whistle. Mazembe sought an equaliser after the break but could not overturn the score. The Tunisian club’s return to the last sixteen underlines how unforgiving the preliminary rounds can be: two matches can bring an entire continental campaign to an end.

Other contenders survived after difficult first legs. Espérance de Tunis lost 1-0 to Swehly SC in Libya, then won the return by the same score. The tie eventually went to penalties, with the Tunisian side winning the shoot-out 3-1.

MC Alger and Petro Atlético both had two-goal deficits to erase. The Algerians beat Nigeria’s Rangers International 3-0, while Petro achieved the same result against Zimbabwe’s Scottland FC in Luanda to advance 3-2 on aggregate. Angola will therefore have two representatives, through contrasting routes: Wiliete’s upset and Petro’s recovery.

Orlando Pirates will carry South African hopes after a 5-0 aggregate win over African Stars, including a 4-0 victory in the return leg. Al Hilal Omdurman defeated Sidama Bunna 4-0 across the two games. Colombe Sportive secured their place by eliminating Teungueth FC 3-0 on aggregate.

Other ties were much closer. MAS de Fès beat ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the return leg to progress 3-2 overall. FC Nouadhibou overturned their first-leg loss to FC San Pedro, also advancing 3-2 on aggregate. Horoya AC needed penalties against Al Merriekh after a 1-1 aggregate draw. The qualifiers arrive with very different experiences, although the manner of qualification does not determine how they will fare in their future groups.

• South Africa : Orlando Pirates.
• Algeria : MC Alger.
• Angola : Petro Atlético, Wiliete SC.
• Cameroon : Colombe Sportive.
• Egypt : Pyramids FC, Zamalek SC.
• Guinea : Horoya AC.
• Morocco : RS Berkane, MAS de Fès.
• Mauritania : FC Nouadhibou.
• Sudan : Al Hilal Omdurman.
• Tanzania : Simba SC, Young Africans.
• Tunisia : Club Africain, Espérance de Tunis.

The draw will take place at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters in Cairo on Wednesday 28 October. The announced start is 15:00 local time: 12:00 GMT and 13:00 in Brazzaville. Sixteen teams will be placed in four groups of four. The group stage is scheduled to start in November, with the top two in each section advancing to the quarter-finals.

The eventual champions will receive an announced prize of six million US dollars. Before that distant target, the draw will provide the first clear picture of the route ahead. Wiliete have already eliminated the holders but must now show they can compete across a longer campaign. Former winners who survived qualification will be seeking to turn narrow escapes into a sustained run.

Eleven countries are represented. Angola, Egypt, Morocco, Tanzania and Tunisia have two clubs each, while the other six qualifying nations have one apiece. That gives the next stage a broad continental spread as the clubs wait to learn their opponents.

Explore on SNA: CAF fixtures and results · Sundowns–Wiliete · Club Africain–TP Mazembe.

Wiliete–Sundowns: how the away goal decided the tie