Hibs Europa League draw confirmed as club owned by Denmark's richest man lie in wait

David Gray's would not have anticipated being involved in this early stage of the competition when they secured a third place finish in the Scottish Premiership last season.

However, that is where they find themselves after being denied direct entry into the Europa League play-off round and a guaranteed parachute into the Conference League by Aberdeen, who claimed this prize for themselves as a result of their shock win over Celtic in the Scottish Cup final last month.

It means that David Gray's men will start their 2025-26 campaign in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, with the opposition now known following Wednesday's draw at the House of European football in Switzerland.

Trip to Denmark awaits

Hibs will face Danish side FC Midtjylland for a place in the next round with the first leg taking place at the MCH Multi Arena in Herning on Thursday, July 24 before the return leg at Easter Road on Thursday, July 31. Midtjylland are owned by Denmark’s richest man, Anders Holch Povlsen, and finished second in the Danish Superliga last season, one point behind champions FC Copenhagen.

Midtjylland competed in the Champions League last season but were knocked out in the play-off round by Slovan Bratislava. They dropped into the Europa League where they finished 20th in the 36-team table to advance to the knock-out play-off round where they were eliminated by Real Sociedad. The Danes have faced Scottish opposition twice before - both recently - with Rangers claiming a 7-3 aggregate win in the Europa League third qualifying round in 2019-20 before Celtic suffered a 3-2 aggregate defeat in the Champions League second qualifying round in 2021-22.

Hibs will remain in Europe regardless of the outcome. Victory would take them to the third qualifying round (draw on July 21) although their seeding is unknown. A defeat would drop them into the Conference League third qualifying round, where they are guaranteed to be unseeded. That draw is also on July 21 and the ties across both competitions take place on August 7 and 14.

Hibs would advance to the play-off round of either competition if they were to prevail in the third qualifying round. The draws are on August 4 and the play-offs take place on August 21 and August 28. If Hibs make it to the Europa League play-off, then like Aberdeen, they have the parachute of the Conference League.