Hibs routes to European league phase football: results needed, possible opponents and seedings explained
Hibs will have to play three rounds of qualifying fixtures to secure European football beyond the summer starting with their tie against FC Midtjylland
Aberdeen’s Scottish Cup win meant they secured the rewards of guaranteed European league phase football this season, a prize that would have gone to Hibs had Celtic triumphed in the final.
However, the capital club’s third place Scottish Premiership finish was still enough to secure a spot in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round where they are due to face FC Midtjylland. Win or lose, Hibs will have at least one more European tie after the Danish side with a route through the Conference League qualifiers also available.
It can be a complicated situation to try and work out and David Gray’s side will only be focused on the task in front of them against their first opponents. However, supporters may be keen to understand what a route to either competition's league phase looks like so we have done our best to explain it based on what we know so far:
Hibs’ route to UEFA Europa League - potential opponents and seedings explained
Hibs obviously need to beat FC Midtjylland to progress in the UEFA Europa League and move towards the league phase. If they do overcome what is sure to be a tough tie then they will move to the third qualifying round.
That would give them two more rounds of qualifiers before securing league phase football but a win in the third qualifying round of the higher ranked competition would guarantee, at the very least, a place in the league phase of the Conference League. If they win their tie with Midtjylland and the subsequent third qualifying round tie it would advance them to the play-off round, the prize they would have won had Aberdeen not lifted the Scottish Cup, where a win would see them move to the league phase and defeat would place them in the league phase of the Conference League.
That may seem like a monumental task but one positive piece of news is that the winner of the tie with FC Midtjylland are due to be seeded in the third qualifying round. Some of the potential unseeded opponents so far include Wolfsberger AC of Austria and Fredrikstad of Norway.
There will be 24 teams in the play-off round section, meaning there will be 12 ties. So far the only guaranteed seeded team are Young Boys of Switzerland while Genk of Belgium, Czechia’s Sigma Olomouc, Turkey’s Samsunspor and Aberdeen are unseeded.
The seeding of the 12 winners from third round qualifying, along with the six losers from UEFA Champion’s League third round qualifying, is yet to be determined. A team’s seeding at this stage is based on their 2025 UEFA Club coefficient score meaning Hibs would almost certainly be unseeded for this draw especially given they currently have a lower score than Aberdeen who are already confirmed to be unseeded.
Hibs’ route to UEFA Europa Conference League - potential opponents and seedings explained
Hibs first route to the league phase of the Europa Conference League is as explained above. That is reaching the play-off qualifying round of the Europa League and falling to defeat in that tie.
However, the opportunity to reach the league phase of the lower ranked competition will still be open to them even if they don’t progress to the play-off round of the higher ranked one. It all starts with the result against FC Midtjylland.
If Hibs are beaten by the Danish side then there next match will be in the Conference League third qualifying round. There seeding for this draw is also undetermined but with a lower standard of opponent across the board there is a better chance they could be seeded at this stage but there are far too many potential outcomes from other ties to determine what sort of opponents David Gray’s side could be looking at here.
If they win that tie they progress to the play-off round of the Conference League qualifiers. This is also the stage they enter at if they beat FC Midtjylland in their second round Europa League qualifier but lose the subsequent Europa League third round qualifier.
Once again, it’s too early to determine if Hibs would be seeded or unseeded at this stage but going the route of beating Midtjylland then losing their next game would give them a better chance than the other route. Whatever the outcome, it’s safe to say that Hibs will want to be seeded for this draw in order to avoid some incredibly difficult ties.
Five teams are already confirmed to be seeded for the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round. They are:
- Fiorentina (Italy)
- Crystal Palace (England)
- Rayo Vallecano (Spain)
- Mainz 05 (Germany)
- Strasbourg (France)
If Hibs were to be drawn against any of those clubs they would start the tie as massive underdogs. In total, 38 teams will compete in the Conference League play-off round, meaning there will be 16 ties with the seedings for the 26 winners from the Conference League qualifying third round ties and five losers from Europa League third round qualifying ties still undetermined.