While Birkirkara will enjoy home advantage today, Hibs and Floriana will be on duty in Bosnia and Sweden respectively as they face FK Sarajevo and IF Elfsborg in other matches from the Europa League first qualifying round.
Floriana have arguably the toughest task of the three Maltese teams in the Europa League as Elfsborg are currently leading the Swedish league with 30 points from 13 matches.
The Greens have been weakened by the departure of several players and the options at the disposal of player-coach Ivan Woods are very limited.
Swedish winger Andre Grabowski is likely to be Floriana’s only foreigner against Elfsborg (kick-off 6 p.m.) as the club haven’t retained any of the players on trial in the Euro Cup.
Floriana defender Owen Bugeja is also out with hamstring trouble.
“Ours is a damage-limitation mission,” Woods said.
“We have many young players with no experience of European football while for most of the others, this is only the second time they are playing in Europe.”
Despite all the difficulties hindering Floriana on and off the field this summer, Woods said the players have been doing their best to stay focused.
“I want to thank the players for their commitment,” Woods said.
“Without their support, the situation would have been a lot worse.”
Floriana’s primary aim is to avoid another humiliating experience after the 9-0 aggregate thrashing to Cypriot club AEK Larnaca in the Europa League last season.
Hibs flew out to Bosnia yesterday but Clayton Failla was granted permission to miss the first leg as he’s getting married this weekend.
Coach Michael Woods has four foreigners in his squad for today’s game at the Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium (kick-off 7.30 p.m.), namely Brazilians Rodolfo Soares, Jackson Lima and Marcel Dias and Belgian defender Jason Lee Vandelanoitte.
While Hibs didn’t qualify for UEFA competitions last season, Sarajevo beat Sweden’s Orebro 2-0 on aggregate in the Europa League second qualifying round but then crashed to a 7-0 upset to Sparta Prague over two legs.