Turkmen football club “Arkadag” was placed in the fourth basket in the draw for the group stage of the Western zone of the AFC Champions League 2 for the 2026/27 season. The draw for the group stage of Asia's second-largest club tournament will take place on August 18 in Malaysia at 17:00 Ashgabat time.

The baskets were determined after the preliminary round matches in the Western Zone. “Arkadag” advanced to the group stage by defeating Indian side “Goa” 3-0. Indian side “East Bengal”, also seeded in Basket 4, defeated Kuwait's “Al Arabi” 4-1.

The first basket of the Western zone included “Al Jazeera” (UAE), “Al Hussein” (Jordan), “Al Tawoun” (Saudi Arabia) and “Al Wahda” (UAE).

The second basket included “Al Rayyan” (Qatar), “Gol Gohar” (Iran), “Nasaf” (Uzbekistan) and “Al Shorta” (Iraq).

The third basket included “Al Faisaly” (Jordan), “Al Muharraq” (Bahrain), “Al Seeb” (Oman), and “Al Kuwait” (Kuwait).

In addition to “Arkadag” and “East Bengal”, the fourth basket included “Al Khalidiya” (Bahrain) and “Al Nahda” (Oman).

According to the AFC's official website, a total of 32 clubs will participate in the tournament's group stage. Among the participants are five former tournament winners: “Al-Faisaly”, “Al-Muharraq”, “Al-Seeb”, “Al-Kuwait”, and “Nasaf”, while Iranian “Gol Gohar” and Malaysian “Kuching City” are making their continental debuts. When seeding teams into pots, clubs from the same country cannot be drawn into the same group.

The group stage of the tournament will begin on September 15 and will be played in a round-robin format with home and away matches until December 9, 2026. The tournament will then proceed to the Round of 1/8 (February 9-18, 2027), with the quarter-finals scheduled for March 2-18, the semi-finals for April 6-14, and the final tentatively scheduled for May 15, 2027.

It is noted that the upcoming season's group stage will be the 22nd edition of Asia's second-largest club football tournament, organized by the AFC. The winner of the tournament will qualify for the preliminary stage of the elite AFC Champions League for the 2027/28 season, unless they have already qualified through their domestic league performance.