FOOTBALL | A challenging ACL 2 campaign awaits Mohun Bagan SG and FC Goa

Mohun Bagan Super Giant and FC Goa, the champion clubs of the country’s top football tournaments, found their groups and opponents in the AFC Champions League Two first stage after the draw at football’s continental body headquarters— AFC House — in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Mohun Bagan, the League Shield and Cup winner of the Indian Super League (2024-25 season), has been drawn in Group C alongside Sepahan SC of Iran, Al Hussein SC of Jordan and Ahal FC of Turkmenistan.

FC Goa, the Kalinga Super Cup 2025 winner, has been placed in Group D with Al Nassr Club of Saudi Arabia, which has former Ballon D’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo in its ranks, as the top draw. The other two sides are Al Zawra SC of Iraq and FC Istiklol of Tajikistan.

Goa qualified to the group stage after beating Al Seeb Club of Oman 2-1 in the preliminary stage play-off match at Fatorda on Wednesday. Mohun Bagan had directly qualified to the ACL 2 group stage by virtue of being the ISL topper.

The initial league format has all teams in the group facing each other in a home and away, double-round robin format. The group stage will run from September 16 to December 24. The top two from each group will qualify for the Round of 16.

The knock-out stage will be held between February 10 to 19, 2026. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled between March 3 to 12 and April 7 to 15 while the final comes up on May 16, 2026.

The Iranian club Sepahan, runner-up in the Persian Gulf Pro League 2024-25, will be Bagan’s toughest opponent considering it came from Pot 1 in the draw which arranged the teams in four categories according to their rankings.

The second team in the order is the Jordan Pro League champion Al Hussein SC while Bagan was placed in Pot 3. Ahal FC, the runner-up of Turkmenistan’s top league Yokary Liga (2024) is the last name in the group.

FC Goa (placed in pot 4) is up against a more fancied Al Nassr, the third-placed side from the Saudi Pro League. Al Nassr employs a constellation of global stars like Sadio Mane among others in addition to Ronaldo. The other teams are the Iraq Stars League runner-up Al Zawra’a SC and FC Istiklol, which is the Tajikistan Higher League champion.