East Bengal’s AFC Women’s Champions League Preliminary Stage campaign: All you need to know

Moshal Girls are favourites to top Group A and qualify for AWCL 2026-27 Group Stage

The reigning champions of India, East Bengal FC, are all set to kickstart their AFC Women’s Champions League preliminary round against Bangladesh’s Rajshahi Stars tomorrow at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.

The Moshal Girls will eye making it to back-to-back AFC Women’s Champions League group stages and join the elite teams of this continent, who will be battling it out to become the Champions of Asia in the most coveted footballing tournament in the continent.

East Bengal have been drawn in Group A. Joining the Moshal Girls will be the 2025–26 Bangladesh Women’s Football League champions, Rajshahi Stars; the 2025 Malaysia National Women’s League champions, who will also enjoy the home advantage; and the 2026 Women’s G League champions, Rovers from Guam.

In this article, we take a close look at East Bengal’s fixtures in the AFC Women’s Champions League preliminary stage and find out if the Moshal Girls have all it takes to represent India in AWCL 2026-27.

East Bengal’s fixtures in AWCL 2026-27 Preliminary stages

Unarguably, the Moshal Girls are the favourites to top Group A and qualify for the group stages of the AFC Women’s Champions League. However, other teams like Rajshahi, Rovers and Sabah will pose a formidable challenge, and in single-legged fixtures with just one spot up for grabs, any upsets or hiccups can adversely affect East Bengal’s continental dreams.

To make matters worse, East Bengal will be without key players like Fazila Ikwaput and Resty Nanziri due to visa issues. Defender Abena Opoku is also unavailable for the opener as she is with the Ghana national team. Soumya Guguloth is also recovering from a knee injury and is not fully fit.

Similarly, Rajshahi’s star player and Bangladeshi international Ritu Porna Chakma is all set to miss the next game after facing trouble in obtaining her International Transfer Certificate from the Myanmar Women’s Football League.

Fixtures:

• August 17, Monday: East Bengal FC vs Rajshahi Stars FC – 1:30 PM
• August 20, Thursday: Rovers FC vs East Bengal FC – 1:30 PM
• August 23, Sunday: East Bengal FC vs Sabah FA – 5:30 PM

East Bengal narrowly missed out on knockout last season

The Moshal Girls were playing their first-ever continental tournament last season. In their AWCL debut, the Kolkata outfit impressed a lot and finished third in the group stages, just one spot and one point behind second placed Nasaf from Uzbekistan.

In their maiden match in AWCL, East Bengal thrashed Iranian outfit Bam Khatoon 3-1 after goals from star striker Ikwaput, Nanziri and Hemam. However, two consecutive defeats to Nasaf and Chinese outfit Wuhan Jiangda saw East Bengal settle for a third-place finish.

Where to watch East Bengal’s AWCL matches in India?

As of now, there is no clarity regarding the live streaming of East Bengal’s AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 preliminary-stage matches in India.

No official broadcaster or streaming platform has been confirmed for the games yet. Fans will have to wait for further updates regarding the availability of live coverage as East Bengal begin their continental campaign.

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