USFAS Bamako of Mali and Ghana's Ampem Darkoa Ladies open their 2026 CAF Women's Champions League group-stage campaigns on Monday, 2 November, at 17:00 Cairo time (12:00 in Brasília), at the Suez Canal Stadium in Ismailia, Egypt. USFAS arrive after winning the West African Zone A (WAFU A) qualifying tournament with four victories, while Ampem Darkoa claimed the Zone B (WAFU B) place after the final's extra time was played at a later date.
In the information checked on 30 October, CAF still lists Ampem Darkoa as the WAFU B representative and confirms the Group B fixture. Nigerian media, however, report a new petition from Edo Queens. The petition itself is not a ruling that changes the qualifier or the schedule.
The four results that took USFAS Bamako through
USFAS won the WAFU A qualifiers held in Banjul, The Gambia, across August and September. Their run comprised two group matches, a semi-final and a final. These results belong to the regional qualifying competition, not the November continental group stage.
| 2026 date | Stage | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Aug | Group stage | USFAS Bamako 1-0 Aigles de la Médina |
| 28 Aug | Group stage | Determine Girls 1-4 USFAS Bamako |
| 3 Sep | Semi-final | USFAS Bamako 3-2 Berewuleng FC |
| 6 Sep | Final | USFAS Bamako 1-0 Aigles de la Médina |
The four matches add up to four wins, nine goals scored and three conceded. According to CAF's team profile, Oumou Koné scored four of those goals, including a semi-final brace against Berewuleng and the final's winner against Aigles de la Médina in the 79th minute.
This is USFAS's second appearance in the continental final tournament. In 2025, the club finished third in its group with four points from three games and did not reach the semi-finals. The match on 2 November is therefore the team's opening game of the 2026 edition, not its first appearance in the competition's history.
How Ampem Darkoa secured Ghana's place
The WAFU B final against Edo Queens on 5 September ended 2-2 after 90 minutes. The Nigerian team won the shootout 4-1, but that procedure was annulled because the regulations required extra time before penalties. CAF's organising decision of 26 September was upheld by its appeals body on 16 October.
On 29 October, the teams resumed the final in Cairo from the beginning of extra time, preserving the 2-2 score. Afishata Mohammed scored for Ampem Darkoa, who completed the contest as 3-2 winners after extra time. That 3-2 is the score of the completed match, not an aggregate across two legs. The original shootout does not form part of this result.
Nigeria's Premium Times reported on 29 October that Edo Queens had filed another petition with CAF, this time challenging the conditions and procedures of the resumed match. As of the 30 October check, the official publications consulted still identified Ampem Darkoa as the qualifier; no new official ruling changing the fixture had been located.
What the opening Group B match means
Group B also contains Morocco's AS FAR, the defending champions, and Uganda's Kawempe Muslim Ladies. Under CAF's schedule, after their opener USFAS meet AS FAR on 5 November at 14:00 Cairo time and Kawempe on 8 November, also at 14:00. Ampem Darkoa face Kawempe on the 5th at 17:00 and AS FAR on the 8th at 14:00.
The top two teams in each group advance to the semi-finals on 11 November. The clearest documented contrast before kick-off is their qualifying route: USFAS won all four WAFU A games, while Ghana's WAFU B place was settled only after a delayed extra-time finish. Those backgrounds alone do not establish how their meeting will end.
