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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
Sport
Daniel Caw

Hibs' potential Europa Conference League opponents profiled as a trip to either Gibraltar or Andorra awaits

Jack Ross and his Hibernian side will sample their first taste of European football next season in either Gibraltar or Andorra, after the Easter Road side were drawn against either Mons Calpe or Santa Coloma in the second qualifying round of the new-look Europa Conference League.

The Hibees will be at home for the first-leg of the clash which will take place on July 22, so with little time to waste, what's likely to be in store for Ross and his players?

Santa Coloma

Hailing from a village of just 3,000 people, they finished third in last season's Andorran Primera Divisio under the management of Albert Jorquera, the former Barcelona keeper who was once capped by the Catalonia national team.

Santa Coloma - nicknamed 'The Doves' - are the country's most successful club, with 13 top-flight titles to their name, and have also won the Andorran domestic cup on ten occasions also.

Notably, they are the only Andorran team in history to win a competitive match in any European competition after seeing off Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 in the 2007/08 Europa League qualifiers.

In terms of players to watch out for, Centre-back Marc Rebes is an Andorran international as is Alexandre Martínez Palau, who has even scored a goal for his country against Switzerland in 2016.

Andreu Ramos started his career in the youth ranks at Barcelona but mainly spent his time in the Spanish lower leagues and Hong Kong before making his move to Santa Coloma.

Mons Calpe

Mons Calpe is the Spanish name for the Rock of Gibraltar, and their football team were founded in 2013 and promoted to the top flight three years later. They finished last season in fourth place, 16 points behind champions Lincoln Red Imps.

Their manager is Cesar Vega, a former Uruguayan international who was previously manager of Mexico's Under 23s side.

This will be Calpe's maiden voyage into European football but Hibs fans will be all too aware of the dangers of taking opponents from Gibraltar too lightly - as Celtic infamously found out to their cost back in 2016.

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