Can Albion make it a happy anniversary when they take on AEK Athens?

It will be 122 years to the day since the club played their first ever competitive match.

Not a bad date, then, to enjoy another first - their first match in European competition.

Albion face Greek champions AEK Athens at the Amex on Thursday in the opening round of UEFA Europa League group stage fixtures.

Their first competitive fixture was a more local affair.

On September 21, 1901, they took on Brighton Athletic at the County Ground in Hove in the preliminary round of the FA Cup.

A crowd of about 1,200 saw the recently-formed Albion win 6-2.

Bert Baker scored a hat-trick and Clem Barker netted twice.

The club were to move to the newly-built Goldstone Ground in the following season.

Baker had the honour of scoring the club’s first ever goal in a competitive game.

A schoolteacher by profession, he played football as an amateur and went on to get a job in the club offices, where he remained until 1953.

He was secretary of the Brighton, Hove and District Schools FA for 43 years.

Albion first welcomed foreign opposition to the Goldstone when they played Athletique Parisien in a friendly in 1904.

Their second such game was a 5-2 win over Galatasaray as Glen Wilson scored twice for the Division Three (South) side.

The date of that first post-war European fixture? September 21, 1950.

Happy anniversary indeed.