The Turkmen football club "Arkadag" will face India’s "Goa" in the preliminary round of the 2026/27 AFC Champions League 2. This was announced by the press service of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The match will take place on August 12 at the "Arkadag" stadium in Turkmenistan. The tie will be decided in a single match: the winner will advance to the AFC Champions League Two group stage, while the loser will continue in the AFC Challenge League group stage.

"Arkadag" enters the qualifiers as the winner of the 2024/25 AFC Challenge League. This achievement earned the club a spot in the 2025/26 AFC Champions League Two, where they secured seven points in the group stage, finished second, and advanced to the knockout stage.

In the current season, Turkmenistan is already represented in the AFC Challenge League group stage by the club "Ahal", which finished second in the 2025 national championship and secured a direct berth in the tournament. If "Arkadag" defeats "Goa", it will advance to the AFC Champions League Two group stage; in the event of a loss, it will continue its season in the Challenge League.

The upcoming match continues the series of games between Turkmen clubs and Indian representatives in Asian tournaments—a series in which the statistics have favored the Turkmen teams in recent years. In 2018, "Altyn Asyr" defeated "Bengaluru" in the AFC Cup inter-zone semi-final with a 5–2 aggregate score. In August 2024, the same club defeated "East Bengal" 3–2 in Kolkata during the AFC Champions League Two preliminary round. That same season, "East Bengal" lost to "Arkadag" in the AFC Challenge League quarter-finals with a 1–3 aggregate score. In September 2025, "Ahal" defeated "Mohun Bagan" 1–0 in Kolkata during the AFC Champions League Two group stage.

"Goa" earned the right to play in the AFC Champions League 2 preliminary round as the Indian Super Cup winners, having defeated "Jamshedpur" 3–0 in the final. Last season, the Indian club reached the tournament's group stage after beating Oman's "Al-Seeb".

The AFC Champions League 2 is Asia's second-tier club competition, ranking below the AFC Champions League Elite. The group stage of the 2026/27 season kicks off in September.