West Ham United will kick-off their seventh European campaign on 2 July when they enter the UEFA Europa League at the first qualifying round stage.
A return to European action after a nine-year absence will be welcome news to Hammers fans, whose opportunities to follow their team over land and sea in competitive football have been limited in the last 15 years.
The last European adventure lasted only two games, as a 1-0 defeat to Palermo at the Boleyn Ground, followed by a 3-0 loss away, ended our participation in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup at the first round.
Qualification on that occasion came by virtue of reaching the FA Cup final the previous season, with the victors Liverpool already qualified for the UEFA Champions League.
Prior to that, West Ham had to come through a similar experience to this season to reach the main stage of the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup, starting the campaign in July to win through three rounds of the Intertoto Cup.
Finnish side Jokerit and Dutch outfit Heerenveen were dismissed before the Hammers faced FC Metz of France in a two-legged showdown to decide who would make it through to the UEFA Cup.
Louis Saha gave Les Grenats a first leg advantage at the Boleyn Ground, but West Ham came roaring back to win 3-1 in Alsace, with Trevor Sinclair, Frank Lampard and Paulo Wanchope all on target to seal an aggregate victory.
The success continued in the competition proper, as West Ham eased past NK Osijek in the first round, but Steaua Bucharest put paid to the Club’s European dreams a round later.
Our glory nights in UEFA competition, of course, have come in the Cup Winners’ Cup, with one title, a runners-up place and a semi-final appearance to the Hammers’ name.
West Ham’s very first participation in continental competition ended with a trophy as Ron Greenwood’s team went all the way to Wembley in the 1964/65 European Cup Winners’ Cup.
A 2-0 victory over TSV 1860 Munich, thanks to two Alan Sealey goals, in the final gave England just its second European honour and set the seal on a glorious run which saw the Hammers take out La Gantoise, Sparta Prague, Lausanne and Real Zaragoza.
You can read more about that success here.
Victory in the 1965 edition meant the Hammers returned to the Cup Winners’ Cup the next season and again they progressed deep into the tournament, reaching the semi-finals before Borussia Dortmund proved too strong.
It was in 1975/76 and following another FA Cup triumph that West Ham were back in Europe again, and once more the Cup Winners’ Cup was a fertile hunting ground for the east Londoners.
One of the Boleyn Ground’s most memorable nights saw the Hammers progress past Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals to set up a meeting with Anderlecht in the final. However, there the Belgians had too much for West Ham, winning 4-2.
So to 1980/81 and West Ham’s fourth and final Cup Winners’ Cup campaign. Spanish side Castilla were dismissed in round one, and Romanians Poli Timisoara in round two, but that was as far as we would go.
Dinamo Tiblisi put on a masterclass in E13, winning 4-1 to set up a 4-2 aggregate win and banish West Ham from Europe up until that 1999 Intertoto Cup campaign.
Now, with the Hammers set to return to continental action in a matter of 36 days, it could be time to write another chapter.