2025–26 AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League
International football competition
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025–26 AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League was the 32nd edition of the AGCFF Gulf Club Champions League, a football competition for clubs from the eight member nations of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF).[1] Duhok were the reigning champions, but they were unable to defend their title as they failed to qualify.
Al-Rayyan (1st title)
Al-Shabab| دوري أبطال الخليج للأندية 2025–26 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Dates | 30 September 2025 – 23 April 2026 |
| Teams | 8 (from 1 confederation) (from 8 associations) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Al-Rayyan (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Al-Shabab |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 27 |
| Goals scored | 73 (2.7 per match) |
| Top scorer |  Abderrazak Hamdallah (7 goals) |
| Best player |  Róger Guedes |
| Best goalkeeper | Mahmud Abunada |
← 2024–25 2026–27 → | |
The winners of the competition were Al-Rayyan, who won their first title with a 3–0 victory over Al-Shabab in the final.[2]
Teams
| Team | Qualification method |
|---|---|
 Sitra |
2024–25 Bahraini Premier League third place[3] |
 Zakho |
2024–25 Iraq Stars League third place[4] |
 Al-Qadsia |
2024–25 Kuwaiti Premier League third place[5] |
 Al-Nahda |
2024–25 Oman Professional League runners-up[6] |
| Al-Rayyan |
2024–25 Qatar Stars League fifth place[7] |
| Al-Shabab |
2024–25 Saudi Pro League sixth place[Note KSA] |
 Al-Ain |
2024–25 UAE Pro League fifth place[8] |
 Al-Tadamun Hadramaut |
2023–24 Yemeni League runners-up[Note YEM] |
- Notes
- ^ Saudi Arabia (KSA): The 2024–25 Saudi Pro League's fourth-placed team, Al-Qadsiah, declined to participate in the tournament.[9]
- ^ Yemen (YEM): The Yemeni League was not held in the 2024–25 season. As the 2023–24 champions Al-Ahli Sanaa qualified for the previous season's tournament, the runners-up Al-Tadamun Hadramaut were entered into this season's competition.[10]
Draw
The draw was held on 11 August 2025.[11] The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots. For the draw, the clubs were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of their nations as at 10 July 2025.[12]
Group stage
| Tiebreakers |
|---|
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings:
|
Group A
| Al-Ain | 0–1 | Zakho |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Group B
| Al-Tadamun Hadramaut | 2–0 | Al-Shabab |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
| Al-Nahda | 1–1 | Al-Tadamun Hadramaut |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
| Al-Nahda | 1–1 | Al-Shabab |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Knockout stage
Due to the 2026 Iran war, the semi-finals and final were postponed and subsequently reduced to single leg matches at a centralised venue in April.
Zakho, Al-Shabab and Al-Rayyan each made bids to host the knockout stage matches, and on 2 April 2026, the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation announced Al-Rayyan as the host team.[13]
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Final | ||||||
| Zakho
| 1 (3) | ||||||
| Al-Shabab (p)
| 1 (4) | ||||||
| Al-Shabab
| 0 | ||||||
| Al-Rayyan
| 3 | ||||||
| Al-Rayyan
| 2 | ||||||
| Al-Qadsia
| 0 | ||||||
Semi-finals
Final
Prize money and awards
Prize money
| Position | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|
| Champions | 3,000,000 |
| Runners-up | 1,000,000 |
Source:[14]
Player awards
The following awards were given:[15]
| Award | Player |
|---|---|
| Top Scorer | Abderrazak Hamdallah |
| Most Valuable Player | Róger Guedes |
| Best Goalkeeper | Mahmud Abunada |