The 28th edition of the AHF Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship will take place in Sabah Al-Salem, Kuwait, from 6 to 17 June, with seven participating teams. It will serve as the Asian qualification event for the 2026 IHF Men’s Club World Championship.

Teams from five countries will compete in the tournament. The host nation, Kuwait, and Qatar will each field two teams, while Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will each be represented by one team.

Following the withdrawal of the Chinese team CHA, the format of the 2026 AHF Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship was changed. All seven participating teams will play in a round-robin preliminary round, and the top four teams in the standings will advance to the semi-finals.

The first seven matchdays will feature three matches each in the preliminary round, played at 16:00, 18:00 and 20:00 local time in Kuwait.

Six of the seven participating teams have previously won the competition. Qatari side Al-Duhail claimed the title in 2018 and 2021, fellow Qatari club Al-Arabi won in 2019, hosts Al-Kuwait lifted the trophy in 2022, Bahrain’s Al-Najma were crowned champions in 2023, while the most recent winners, Saudi Arabia’s Khaleej Club and the UAE’s Sharjah SC, are also in the field.

The remaining participant is Kuwaiti side Burgan.

The last three finals of the AHF Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship have been closely contested. In 2023, Al-Najma defeated Al-Duhail 31:30 after two periods of extra time. The same happened in 2024, when Khaleej Club edged Al-Arabi 35:33 after two extra-time periods, while the previous edition saw Sharjah secure a narrow 27:26 victory over Khaleej in the final.

Several teams have strengthened their squads ahead of the competition. Al-Arabi have notably signed towering left back Ihor Turchenko, right back Giorgi Tskhovrebadze and left back Pedro Valdez, who played for Dinamo București this season.

Khaleej Club have also added goalkeeper Kristian Pilipovic and right back Janko Bozovic, while Burgan have been reinforced by the signing of left back Hassan Kaddah from Zamalek. Al-Kuwait have brought in another imposing left back, Filip Kuzmanoski.

The winner of the competition will represent Asia at the 2026 IHF Men’s Club World Championship. So far, two teams have already been confirmed for that event: defending champions FC Barcelona and Oceania champions Sydney Uni.