Cardiff Met have been drawn alongside Hibernian, WFC Nike and Pomurje Beltinci in their UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying group.
All three of the Archer’s matches in group 3 will be played on 7, 10 and 13 August with Slovenia’s Pomurje Beltinci being the hosts.
Kerry Harris’ side have never qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Key Info
Hibs was first founded in 1997 under the name of Preston Athletic, the name was then changed to Hibernian two years later.
In the club’s history Hibernian have won 18 major honours; winning the Scottish Women’s Premier League on three occasions, lifting the Scottish Women’s Cup eight times and they have claimed the Scottish Women’s Premier League Cup seven times.
They play all of their home matches in Ainslie Park, which has a capacity of 3,534 with 534 seated.
Hibernian are heading into the qualifying group for the Champions League after finishing as runners-up in the Scottish Women’s Premier League, behind their regular title rivals Glasgow City.
In European Competitions
The Edinburgh based side have represented Scotland in Europe on four occasions in past seasons, however, they have only reached the knockout stages once, which was in 2013/14.
They were hammered in the round of 32 by the German giants, Bayern Munich 10-1 over two legs.
In the 2017/2018 qualifying stages Hibs played against Met’s league rivals Swansea City. They had no problem in turning the Swans over, beating them by a 5-0 scoreline.
Ones to watch
Jamie-Lee Napier
The Scot was top scorer for Hibs last season the Scottish Women’s Premier League with 6 goals in 11 league matches.
Jenna Fife
The show stopper has proven herself within the league in the recent season. As a result of this she earned herself a spot in Scotland’s World Cup squad.
The 23 year old kept five clean sheets in 11 league matches for Hibs.
Pomurje Beltinci
Key Info
The hosts of group 3 were founded in 1999 and come from the Slovenian town of Beltinci in the south east of the country.
In their 20 year history, they have collected 16 honours. Since 2005 Žuto-plave (translating to the yellow-blues in English) have been dominant in the Slovenian Women’s League, winning it eight times. In addition to that, they have won the Slovenian Cup a record nine times.
The side’s home matches are played in the Bratonci Sports Centre, which has a maximum capacity of 800.
Žuto-plave won all 26 of their fixtures last season, which inevitably earned them a domestic double. Within that, they scored a massive total of 156 goals and only conceded 14 goals in the league.
In European Competitions
The Slovenian side last appeared in the UEFA Women’s Champions League in the 2016/17 season which they failed to qualify for the knockouts.
Despite being a strong outfit domestically, Pomurje Beltinci have only been able to live up to the standard in Europe once, which was in the 2014/15 season. They lost out to Hungarian side, Torres 7-3 on aggregate in the round of 32.
One to Watch
Špela Kolbl
The Slovenian striker has collected the golden boot in the top flight for two years on the bounce.
In the 2017/18 season Kolbl found the back of the net 31 times in just 17 matches, however in the most recent season she increased her total dramatically. The 21 year old bagged herself 46 goals in 21 appearances, that is a goal average of 2.19 per game.
(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell)
Leave a Reply