Nations FC will make the trip west first, with the opening leg in Bamako pencilled in for the window of 4–6 September 2026. The Kumasi base side will then host the return fixture at home between 11 and 13 September, when away goals and aggregate scoring will settle who progresses.
Progress past FC Diarra would not end the test. The winner of this tie advances to the second preliminary round to face whichever side emerges from the meeting of Niger’s AS Zam and Togolese outfit ASKO de Kara with a place in the lucrative Confederation Cup group stage awaiting the side that comes through both hurdles.
Elsewhere in the Ghana’s contingent’s continental business, MTN FA Cup runners-up’ league champions Medeama SC learned they will face TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the CAF Champions League preliminary round, hosting the first leg at the TNA Stadium in Tarkwa before travelling to Kinshasa for the return. Should the “Mauve and Yellow” get past the DR Congolese giants, a meeting with either Tunisia’s Club Africain or Mali’s Djoliba AC awaits in the next round.