Having finished third in the previous season's Scottish Premier League, Hibs entered the UEFA Cup at the first round stage. The first leg against AEK Athens was scheduled to be played on 13 September 2001, but this was postponed by UEFA in light of the terrorist attacks on 11 September. Given the lateness of the decision, many Hibs fans had already travelled to Greece and were left out of pocket without a match to attend. The team themselves were on the runway at Edinburgh Airport when the decision from UEFA was advised to them. UEFA announced later that day that the UEFA Cup games scheduled to be played on 13 September would instead be played on 20 September.