Glentoran captain Jess Foy says she is pleased with the “strength and depth” of the squad ahead of their Women’s Champions League first qualifying round game against ZNK Mura.
Despite losing Northern Ireland internationals Kerry Beattie and Joely Andrews to Hearts in the summer, the Glens have brought in Aimee Kerr, Aimee Neal, Sofie Keenan, Ellie Butler and Kelly Crompton to strengthen the squad.
And Foy believes the Women’s Premiership champions are well equipped to take on the Slovenian side in the Stelios Kyriakides Stadium in Paphos on Wednesday afternoon (13:00 BST).
“We have strengthened our team this year with a lot of young players and are confident in the strength and depth of the squad,” Foy told the club’s website.
“We will be focusing on our first game against ZNK Mura and we look forward to the challenges ahead.”
‘As strong a squad as we’ve taken into Europe’
Glentoran boss Kim Turner echoed Foy’s sentiments, stating that the squad is “as strong” as the side has “ever taken into Europe”.
“I’m very happy with the strength and ability of the squad we’re taking to Cyprus this week,” she said.
“The players we’ve brought in and the younger players we’ve promoted from the academy sides, they have all come in and performed very well this season.”
Turner continued: “We played this format of qualifiers when it was first introduced two years ago so we know how big the challenge is ahead of us and we are all looking forward to it.”
Should the Glens progress past Mura in their mini tournament semi-final they will play the winners of the other semi-final between Apollon or Pyunik for a place in the second qualifying round.
Mura have won the Slovenian league in each of the past four years and twice reached the round of 32 in the old format of the Champions League.