Djabal head coach Msoili Zainoudini admits they are not professional footballers in the Comoros Premier League.
The two-time league champions were dumped out of the 1st preliminary round of the CAF Champions League by Orlando Pirates with a 4-0 aggregate defeat.
And while they put up a decent fight in the first leg, the gulf in class was evident at Orlando on Friday evening as they barely tested Sipho Chaine during the 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, their national team made headlines across the continent, when they reached the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in their debut showpiece.
But he suggested it’s due to the islanders making use of the diaspora in Europe in order to gain a competitive advantage, not due to improvements in the league.
“You know the Comoros league is amateur, the whole league, we don’t have a professional league yet,” he said when asked about the level of the domestic competition in comparison to their emerging national team.
“What makes our national team strong, is that most of our players in the national team, play abroad, first and second divisions in Europe.
“So that’s why we’re trying and why we’re doing good at the national team level. But the whole league, the Comoros league, [is] amateur.”
Djabal will now turn their attention to the domestic league where they are reigning champions.
