Hibs and Glasgow City kick off their quest for Champions League football this evening with Grant Scott’s side facing Danish champions Fortuna Hjorring and City taking on Austria Vienna.
Both teams have history with the tournament – City have twice been at the quarter-final stage – although the new format and greater riches makes progression all the more tantalising.
Hibs are based in Paphos for the second qualifying round which takes places in the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium.
The winners of the game will face the winners of Apollon Ladies and BSC Young Boys Frauen to see who progresses into a play-off tie this weekend.
“It’s obviously huge,” said Hibs' Ellis Notley. “Every week you'll sit down and watch the men's Champions League. It's something that, as a player, you want to be part of.
“That's what our aim is, to get there. We know it'll take a lot, it'll be a long process, but we just have to take it game by game.
“We've seen a bit of excitement around Easter Road already these past few weeks with the men's team competing in Europe.
“There is a good environment around the club at the minute. All three teams, from the women's, the men's and the 18's, will compete in Europe given the success of last season.
But it has been a great atmosphere at the games.
“They have got their second leg on Thursday, which hopefully they can turn it around and qualify for the next part.
“It’s definitely whet our appetite. We want to be as successful as we can be and we've seen the men do so well.”
Hibs will have to cope with the heat in Cyprus with temperatures expected to still be around 30 degrees, despite a 9.30pm kick-off time.
“We had a bit of experience of that over the summer when we were in the States in similar temperatures so we know what to expect,” said Notley.
Meanwhile, Leanne Ross has insisted that her friendship with Leanne Crichton is unaffected by the latter’s move to Rangers.
Crichton had been Ross’ assistant at Petershill since last November before the Ibrox side made their move for her.
“We are close and we are really good friends,” she said. “That isn’t going to change. We will be in different dugouts and for 90 minutes we will be fierce competitors but off the pitch our relationship stays the same and we’re still really good friends.
“The club would never stand in anyone’s way. We want the best for individuals and people move on.”
City, who have to go through the tough non-champions route, take on Austria Vienna tonight with Ross accepting that it is a substantial step up on quality.
The Glasgow City manager has susbstantial experience as player in the Champions League environment and is keen that the players get the chance to go and test themselves at elite level.
“As a staff we have done the work in the background and we know it will be a difficult game,” she said.
“They are an aggressive, attacking team and pose threats all over the pitch. They are also very strong defensively and aggressive in their press so we will need to up our game in terms of what we play against on a weekly basis in our league.
“But we have got that experience within our squad from playing in Europe and with a lot of players who play international experience.
“We need to take that experience and give the best account of ourselves that we can.”
