At 41, Ronaldo is back in continental club football for his third AFC Champions League campaign with Al-Nassr, and Asia’s biggest prize is still the one he has never touched.
His side kick off the 2026-27 AFC Champions League Elite on Tuesday, away to UAE champions Al Ain at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. It is the first of eight league-phase fixtures Al-Nassr will play between mid-September and mid-February.
The competition itself has been reshaped for this edition. The AFC has expanded the league phase from 24 clubs to 32, split into Western and Eastern regions of 16 teams each. Every side plays eight different opponents, with the top eight in each region advancing to a two-legged round of 16 in March. From the quarter-finals onwards, matches are hosted centrally in Saudi Arabia, with the final on 1 May 2027.
The road through the West
Al-Nassr sit in a Western Region that draws from four Saudi clubs, three sides each from the UAE and Qatar, two each from Iran and Uzbekistan, and Iraq’s Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. Their confirmed roadmap takes them from Al Ain to a home match with Uzbekistan’s Neftchi on 12 October, then home again to Al Wasl on 26 October, and away to Pakhtakor on 2 November.
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The three Qatari fixtures follow, against Al Sadd, Al-Gharafa and Al Shamal. The league phase ends with a return trip to the UAE on 15 February, when Al-Nassr visit Shabab Al Ahli at Al-Rashid Stadium in Dubai.
Head coach Ange Postecoglou is treating the opener as one item on a busy schedule.
“From tomorrow, we’ll start planning for the AFC Champions League, but my priority right now is the match against Al Riyadh,” the Australian told reporters before the league weekend.
Postecoglou signed a two-year deal at Al-Nassr in July, arriving in Riyadh after being dismissed by Tottenham Hotspur despite delivering the London club’s first trophy in 17 years with the 2025 Europa League.
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Al Ahli set the standard
Al-Nassr are chasing a trophy their neighbours currently monopolise. On 25 April, Al Ahli edged Japan’s Machida Zelvia 1-0 after extra time in Jeddah to retain the AFC Champions League Elite title, becoming the first team to defend the crown since cross-Jeddah rivals Al-Ittihad in 2005. Substitute Feras Al Brikan settled the final in the 96th minute.
Ronaldo has already traded barbs with Al Ahli supporters over the mismatch. Five days after that Jeddah final, following an Al-Nassr 2-0 win over the champions in the league, an Al Ahli fan taunted him about the Asian titles. On the pitch, Ronaldo held up his right hand and replied to the cameras: “Five Champions I have. I have five. Five.”
All five came in Europe, with Manchester United and Real Madrid. In Saudi Arabia the closest he has come is a semi-final. Kick-off in Abu Dhabi is on Tuesday evening.
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