In the past 45 years, Hibernian have only finished third in Scotland's top flight on four occasions.

For a club of their size, it is a grim record. But Jack Ross is close to guiding them back there, with the Easter Road outfit sitting three points clear of fourth-placed Aberdeen with a game in hand.

Not only would seizing third mark a successful league campaign for the Leith side, but it would present new and tantalising European prospects.
Why is this season different?

In short, there is a better chance to make the Europa League group stage, and failing that, a brand-new Uefa competition that guarantees European football until Christmas.

Should Rangers or Celtic win the Scottish Cup, finishing third in the Premiership would bring the reward of a place in the play-off round of Europa League qualifiers. Equally, Hibs - or anyone else - winning the cup themselves would do likewise.

Win that European tie over two legs, and they would reach the promised land of the group stage.

Of course, the quality of opposition would be very high. Based on current standings, Hibs could face teams such as Fenerbache, Ferencvaros, Genk, or Malmo - who destroyed Pat Fenlon's side 9-0 on aggregate in 2014.

But even if they fail to win that tie, all is not lost. Scotland's representatives would drop into the group stage of the inaugural Europa Conference League and guaranteed continental competition until December.
Hang on, what's the Conference League?

This is Uefa's new third-tier tournament, sitting beneath the Champions and Europa Leagues, and played on a Thursday.

The latter has been reduced from 48 to 32 clubs in the group stage, which means Scotland will have only one Europa representative and two in the Conference League second qualifying round.

That duo - who would both qualify through the Premiership - would need to get through three rounds to reach the group stage and would likely face some pretty daunting opposition in the latter two of those.
Who might they play & how much might they make?

For Hibs, reaching the Europa League group stage would generate mouth-watering ties and serious financial opportunities.

They could - given where they currently sit in their own league - face the likes of Liverpool, Juventus, Lazio, AS Monaco, PSV Eindhoven and Real Sociedad, along with many other continental heavyweights.

In the 2020-21 season, winning a group match was rewarded with just under £500,000 in prize money. A draw netted over £160,000.

If Hibs were to wind up in the Conference League, then Napoli, Everton, Sparta Prague, Feyenoord or Basel might await - but crucially, that would be in the group stages, meaning a further guaranteed six matches for them or whoever else ends up being Scotland's 'third' European qualifier.

Uefa has yet to reveal details of the prize money on offer, but it is likely to be substantial in Scottish football terms, particularly to a team outside the Old Firm.