Luzern FC: Who are Hibs Europa opponents? Key players, stadium capacity and cost of flights

Lee Johnson’s side face a trip to Switzerland in the UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round after seeing of Inter Club d’Escaldes.

Hibs overcame their 2-1 first leg defeat in Andorra to comfortably dispatch Inter Club d’Escaldes 6-1 at Easter Road and book their slot in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

Their opponents will be Luzern of Switzerland, who knocked out Djurgardens IF 3-2 on aggregate in their own second round qualifier to make it though. The Swedish club were favourites for the tie but instead it will be a trip to the land of cuckoo clocks and chocolate for Hibess’ fans.

Here is everything you need to know about Luzern FC including where they play their home matches, how much it will cost to get there from Edinburgh and their current players and previous history:

FC Luzern history and European participation

FC Luzern, nicknamed Die Leuchten (The Lights), were founded in August 1901 and have won the Swiss Super League once in that time - back in 1988/99. They are three times winners of the Swiss Cup (1960, 1992 and 2021).

They have featured in European competition fairly consistently over the past 10-12 years, but have never reached the group stages of any tournament, with their best ever finish in that time coming in 2012 when they lost in the play-off round of the Europa League qualifiers against Genk. Scottish football fans may remember them from the 2014/15 Europa League qualifiers where they were narrowly beaten by St Johnstone - drawing 1-1 with the Perth side home and away and then losing on penalties.

Notable current players include former Schalke 04, Crystal Palace and Germany international Max Meyer as well as Czech full back Martin Frydek and Switzerland international midfielder Ardon Jashari.

Where do FC Luzern play? Stadium location and capacity

FC Luzern play at the Swissporarena in the city of Lucerne. The stadium has a capacity of 17,000 spectators and is also occasionally used to host matches for the Switzerland men’s national side - most recently a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Bulgaria in 2021.

Lucerne is classed as the most populous city in central Switzerland and the main language spoken there is German. Handball and Ice Hockey are among the most popular sports in the area outside of football.

How to get there

Hibs fans travelling to the match can fly directly from Edinburgh to Zurich and then it is just a 45 minute road trip to the city of Lucerne. As of Thursday (August 4) morning, flights were showing at slightly over £500 for a direct return while there is the slightly cheaper options with layovers available at more reasonable prices between £200 and £300.

Hibs v Luzern fixture dates and play-off round draw

The first match of the two legged tie will take place on Thursday, August 10 at Easter Road with kick off time still to be confirmed. The away leg at the Swissporarena will be one week later on Thursday, August 17 again with kick off time still to be confirmed.

The draw for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa Conference League is due to be made on Monday, August 7 so both clubs will have an idea of what awaits them in the next round should they get through this tie. The play-off round is the final round of qualifiers before the group stages.