Why the Champions League draw could be perfect....for Hibs

Could lady luck be wearing dark green this season?

European football returns to Easter Road next month, for the first time since Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 Aston Villa thumping of the Hibees in 2023. In that campaign, Hibs were extremely unlucky in the Conference League Playoff round - as from 19 seeded teams, they were drawn to face the one and only English side in the competition.

The 8-0 aggregate scoreline was a fair reflection of the financially exacerbated gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in British football, but it still felt an unfair barrier between Hibs and their first ever appearance in a European group stage.

The 2025/26 campaign will begin full of optimism, with the Hibees fresh from a heroic turnaround which saw a relentless march from bottom of the table to securing 3rd in the Premiership with games to spare. Yesterday’s Europa League qualifying round 2 draw saw Hibs receive a trip to Denmark on Thursday 24th July, before hosting Midtjylland at Easter Road in the 2nd leg on 31st July. Midtjylland are a good team, they’d likely finish above Hibs in a season long campaign in Scotland.

But that’s not to say Hibs can’t eliminate them, especially with the advantage of the second leg being played under the lights in Leith. While drawing Aston Villa was unfortunate, a phenomenal beating of Midtjylland would bring two slices of good fortune for Hibs, this time: