Hearts surprised many, including possibly themselves, by winning the Scottish Women's Premier League for the first time.
Unlike the men's team, they came through a final-day climax victorious, but like their Premiership counterparts, they found themselves losing the head coach who took them there.
Eva Olid had already decided to stand down, the Spaniard feeling she was not getting the financial support she deserved and now poised to be named Manchester United manager.
Her replacement, Andy Thomson, who was assistant to title rivals Rangers, goes into the new season without any major additions to his squad.
Defender Ebonie Locke has joined on a short-term loan from Birmingham City, but Northern Ireland midfielder Joely Andrews has left for city rivals Hibernian.
Hearts' first European venture takes them to Denmark, where they begin on Wednesday against a Gintra side who are veterans of these qualifiers.
Having won their domestic title every year since 2005, it is no surprise Gintra have faced Scottish opposition previously and two seasons ago lost 2-0 to Celtic in the final of the mini tournament they hosted in Lithuania.
While Hearts have yet to start their domestic season, Gintra are 12 games into theirs and currently lead the 2026 Moteru A Lyga, winning their latest three.
However, the Lithuanians have yet to qualify from one of these mini-tournaments and, after beating Romanians Farul Constanța in their semi-final last year, lost the final to Ukraine's Vorskla Poltava.
Should Hearts win, they will face either hosts HB Koge or Riga of Latvia in Saturday's final.
Riga are also midway through their season and have already beaten two British sides in Champions League qualifying this season, easing aside Glentoran 4-1 in the first round mini-tournament semi-final before repeating the scoreline in the final against Wrexham.
Domestically, they are on course for a third consecutive title, sitting three points behind RFS but with three games in hand.
Meanwhile, having reached the group stage proper in 2021-22, Koge will probably be favourites to progress given a squad bolstered by American investment - and players.
Forward Rikke Madsen, midfielder Mille Gejl and defender Simone Boye are also all seasoned Denmark internationals, Nadia Nadim had a spell with Manchester City, while fellow striker Kyra Carusa plays for Republic of Ireland.
