Namibia's footballers overcame over a year without a domestic league to knock Zimbabwe out of the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan).
The Namibians won 5-4 on penalties after the match ended 1-1 on aggregate.
Zimbabwe were hailed as heroes just two weeks ago after winning the Cosafa Cup, the southern African championship.
"We haven't had a league running since April last year, so it's been very tough for us," Namibia coach Ricardo Mannetti told BBC Sport.
The Chan is contested by footballers playing in their own domestic league.
"80% of the squad have not been playing regularly and the only matches we had as a team were at Cosafa, where some played 1-2 matches," added Mannetti.
"So we had to take these players, put them in camp, feed them and get them mentally prepared and all that. For most of them, this was the (only) second or third match over a year."
The Namibian Premier League, which has lost its sponsorship, has not been contested since the 2015-16 season ended 15 months ago.
Rumours of backroom tussles between the Namibian FA and the local league have emerged in the media.
Unlike the Namibians, who had been in camp for three months to prepare for both Cosafa and Chan, Zimbabwe blamed their loss - which came despite winning Sunday's second leg 1-0 - on insufficient build-up.
Zimbabwe were crowned Cosafa Cup champions earlier this month, after beating Zambia in the final in South Africa
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