Women’s Europa Cup: Glasgow City in draw for place in inaugural tournament

Glasgow City are now just one tie away from entering the first ever Women’s Europa Cup.

The Petershill club secured their place in the second qualifying round thanks to a convincing 6-0 aggregate win over Irish side Athlone Town.

A 3-0 win in Glasgow was followed up by the same score-line in Ireland on Wednesday night as Leanne Ross’ side eased into the next stage.

Emily Whelan struck in the first-half to put the tie beyond Athlone before a Nicole Kozlova brace put the icing on the cake.

After the game, Kozlova, who came off the bench to net a two-minute double, said: “You dream of playing in Europe, and we are doing everything we can to make sure we keep playing these games.”

Hibernian were the other Scottish side in contention, but they suffered a heavy defeat to Serie A side Inter Milan.

After a 4-1 defeat in Italy, the Edinburgh club were needing a miracle at Easter Road to get through and, despite a spirited performance by the SWPL champions, Inter scored in stoppage time to complete a 5-1 aggregate win.

That means City are the only Scottish club left in Europe this season and they will find out their next round opponents in Friday’s draw.

It is likely that they will be unseeded for the draw, although they won’t know for sure until Thursday night’s Champions League qualifiers and the last two Europa Cup first-round qualifiers take place.

The winners of the first round Europa qualifiers will be joined by the losing sides from the Champions League qualifiers.

That means potential opponents include big names such as Manchester United, AS Roma, Ajax, and Atletico Madrid.

The first leg will take place on Tuesday, October 7, or Wednesday, October 8 with the second leg a week later.

If City get through the next round they will enter the Women’s Europa Cup proper at the last-16 stage.

Unlike the men’s version, the tournament has no league phase and will instead consist of two-legged knockout ties up to and including the final, which will be held in the last week of August and the first week of May.