Al Wahda will face opposition from hosts Egypt, Jordan and Algeria this summer at the revamped 2016/17 Arab Club Championship.
The annual regional football club competition – held between members of the Union of Arab Football Associations – is set to return from July 22-August 5 in Alexandria and Cairo, following the end of a three-year hiatus. Qualifiers for the final tournament were completed in March, with a draw undertaken on Friday for the 12-team group stage containing nations from Africa and the Middle East.
The Clarets were picked out in Group A alongside 38-time Egyptian Premier League winners Al Ahly, newly-crowned Jordan Premier League champion Al Faisaly and 2015/16 Algerian Cup runners-up NA Hussein Dey. Al Ain were to be the UAE’s sole representative, but turned down their invitation earlier this year.
The ACC was previously branded as the UAFA Club Cup. It has been held 27 times since it was founded in 1980.
No Emirati side has won it. Algeria’s USM Alger are the reigning champions after they completed a 3-2 aggregate win against Kuait’s Al Arabi 3-2 on May 14, 2013.
Wahda sit a disappointing fifth in the ongoing Arabian Gulf League, but are in the President’s Cup final and could advance to the 2017 AFC Champions League’s round of 16.
