Johannesburg, April 21, 2016 (AFP) - Defending title-holders Etoile Sahel of Tunisia were paired with Mounana of Gabon Thursday during the CAF Confederation Cup play-offs draw in Cairo.

Etoile started the 2016 African club season in the CAF Champions League, but were eliminated Wednesday after the final qualifying round.

The only club to win all five CAF competitions staged a dramatic second leg comeback against Enyimba of Nigeria to win 3-0 only to fail in the penalty shootout.

Etoile and seven other round-of-16 losers were demoted to the second-tier Confederation Cup, the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League.

The other eight teams in the draw, including Mounana, survived a three-round Confederation Cup elimination process.

Tunisian teams have dominated the 13-year-old competition with CS Sfaxien lifting the trophy three times and Etoile twice.

Three of the 16 sides in the draw came from the North African country with Esperance drawing Mouloudia Bejaia of Algeria and Stade Gabesien drawing TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Defending title-holders Mazembe were another midweek Champions League casualty after losing away and drawing at home against Wydad Casablanca of Morocco.

Etoile and Esperance are expected to win their two-leg ties scheduled for May, but it would be a shock if Gabesien overcame Mazembe.

Moroccan clubs have been the second most successful in the Confederation Cup with FAR Rabat, FUS Rabat and Moghreb Fes among previous title-holders.

FUS achieved the biggest victory of the 2016 qualifiers, trouncing SC Villa of Uganda 7-0 at home during the round of 16 through seven different goal scorers.

They drew Champions League demotees Stade Malien of Mali, who disappointed when losing twice to Zesco United of Zambia and must be considered underdogs.

The other Moroccan contenders, Kawkab Marrakech, meet Al Merrikh of Sudan in a clash of clubs who have won one CAF title each.

Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Sagrada Esperanca of Angola carry Southern African hopes and appear to have winnable ties.

Sundowns, a Pretoria club bankrolled by mining magnate Patrice Motsepe, tackle Medeama of Ghana and Sagrada confront Young Africans of Tanzania.

A North African showdown between Al Ahly Tripoli of Libya and Misr Elmaqasah of Egypt completes the draw.

Ahly have been forced to stage home matches in neighbouring Tunisia because of post Moamer Kadhafi era lawlessness in Libya.

First legs are scheduled for May 6-8 and return matches for May 17-18.