East African clubs Al Hilal of Sudan, Gor Mahia of Kenya, Rayon Sports of Rwanda and Young Africans of Tanzania won CAF Confederation Cup play-offs Wednesday, despite second-leg losses.

It means that a quarter of the 16 teams in the group draw this Saturday in Cairo will come from the cinderella region of African football.

CAF club final victories by east African sides have been rare, with the last in 1989 when Al Merrikh of Sudan won the now defunct African Cup Winners Cup.

But the many heartbreaks of the past were forgotten in Khartoum, Nairobi, Kigali and Dar es Salaam as supporters celebrated aggregate victories.

Hilal fell 3-1 to Akwa United of Nigeria in Uyo, but squeezed through on away goals.

The aggregate advantage of the Sudanese stretched to three goals when Mohamed Bashir scored after 25 minutes only for Akwa to hit back.

Denis Nya equalised on the stroke of half-time and a Michael Ibe brace had the Nigerians 3-1 ahead with 30 minutes to play.

Akwa needed one more goal to progress, but it eluded them, leaving twice African champions Enyimba as the only one of four Nigerian clubs in the play-offs to survive.

Gor became the first Kenyan club to reach the group stage of a CAF competition despite conceding an own-goal in a 2-1 loss at 2017 runners-up SuperSport United of South Africa.

Haron Shakava put the ball into his net on the hour, but Francis Kahata levelled almost immediately for the east Africans.

Thabo Mnyamane put SuperSport ahead again on 68 minutes in Pretoria, but they were eliminated on away goals.

Rayon had the three-goal lead they built at home to thank for their survival after going down 2-0 to Costa do Sol of Mozambique in Maputo, where the home team missed a penalty.

Nelson Nesto and Liberian Terence Tisdell scored for Costa, but they could not prevent the Kigali outfit becoming the first Rwandan club to qualify for the mini-league phase of a CAF competition.

Young Africans had the two-goal first-leg advantage over Welayta Dicha of Ethiopia halved just two minutes into the return match when Eshetu Mena scored.

But there were no further goals in Hawassa and the Tanzanians won 2-1 on aggregate to reach the group stage a second time.

Star striker Ayoub el Kaabi failed to score for Renaissance Berkane of Morocco, but they overcame 10-man Generation Foot of Senegal 2-0 to scrape through on away goals.

Mohamed Azziz and Togolese Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba scored in eastern Morocco against opponents who had Khadim Diaw red-carded before half-time.

Morocco have two clubs among the last 16 as Raja Casablanca outplayed Zanaco of Zambia 3-0 to complete a five-goal overall triumph.