Hibs' young side will play in front of a bumper crowd in Tuesday night's UEFA Youth League clash against Borussia Dortmund, with ticket sales reaching almost 7,000 on a huge night in the capital city - exceeding more than HALF of the average attendance of Scottish Premiership clubs.
The young Hibees qualified for the tournament by winning the Under-18's Scottish League last season with Celtic and Rangers automatically qualifying for the group stages as a result of their senior teams qualifying for the men's group stages. However, they still had a tricky path which meant they had to qualify through two play-offs to reach the knockout stages.
They faced Molde in the first round, emerging victorious over the Norwegian side. It went right down to the wire over the two legs, with a 5-4 penalty shootout win at Easter Road back in October allowing them to advance to the second round. Here they took on French side Nantes, and an impressive 1-0 home win in the first leg was compounded with a stunning 2-1 win in France - setting up a glamorous tie against Borussia Dortmund's star-studded youth team.
Dortmund finished second to Manchester City in their group, meaning they have to advance through the play-offs; thus landing a tricky tie on the east coast against Steve Kean's side. And that task will be made much more difficult with a crowd of 7,000 set to descend upon Easter Road - amazingly, that is more than the average attendances of HALF of the Scottish Premiership clubs this season.
Data compiled by Transfermarkt shows that bar the Old Firm, both Edinburgh sides, Aberdeen and Dundee United, the next biggest average attendance is Kilmarnock's 6,422. Decreasing from here, St Mirren boast 6,184 on average, followed by Motherwell's 5,787, St Johnstone's 5,510 and Livingston's 4,328.
Ross County prop up the table with 4,063 on average at the Global Energy Stadium - meaning that should Hibs sell more tickets for walk-ons closer to kick-off, they could DOUBLE the average attendance of Malky Mackay's side. Hibs will be without prodigy captain Murray Aiken after he was sent off in the last minute of the second leg, and face a tough test at a side that has won the Under-19 Bundesliga in four of the past five seasons.
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