Orlando Pirates will face La Cure Waves SC of Mauritius in the first preliminary round of the 2026-27 Caf Champions League after Thursday’s draw.
The South African champions qualified for the competition by winning the 2025-26 Betway Premiership, and will start their campaign against the holders of Mauritius’s National Super League.
La Cure Waves also secured their place in the tournament as domestic champions, but Pirates will be strong favourites to progress from the tie. The Mauritian club are semi-professional and face a significant challenge against the reigning South African champions.
The first-round matches will be played over two legs, with the opening fixtures scheduled between 4 and 6 September and the return matches taking place from 11 to 13 September.
Pirates have won the African Cup of Champions Clubs, the predecessor to the Caf Champions League, once. That success came in 1995.
They have also reached one Champions League final, in 2013. Their most recent deep run ended in the semi-finals of the 2024-25 competition, when they were eliminated by eventual winners Pyramids FC of Egypt, who went on to defeat Sundowns in the final.
Mamelodi Sundowns, who won the Champions League in 2016 and again last season, have been given a bye into the second preliminary round. They qualified for this year’s tournament after finishing second behind Pirates in the 2025-26 Premiership.
Sundowns will begin their campaign against either Angola’s Wiliete de Benguela or Foresters Mont Fleuri FC of Seychelles.
The opening-round draw also brought domestic interest in the 2025-26 Caf Confederation Cup, where Durban City will play Rukinzo FC of Burundi in the first preliminary round. Durban City qualified for the competition as winners of the previous season’s Nedbank Cup.
Kaizer Chiefs, who finished third in the Premiership, will enter the Confederation Cup in the second preliminary round after receiving a bye in the opening stage.
They will face the winners of the tie between Zambia’s Red Arrows and Madagascar’s FC Rouge.
The preliminary-round schedule means Pirates will be the first of the leading South African clubs named in the draw to take the field in the Champions League, while Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs will wait for the next stage before beginning their respective campaigns.
