BASILDON’S James Tomkins will captain West Ham United for the first time in his career when the Hammers begin their Europa League campaign tonight.

The 26-year-old has cut short his summer holidays to link up with West Ham’s squad ahead of their first-round qualifying first-leg against Andorran outfit FC Lusitans.

Tomkins has said being asked to skipper West Ham is ‘a huge honour’, and to do so in front of a sold out Boleyn Ground crowd of 35,000 people makes it all the more exciting.

It is a day of firsts for Tomkins, who will get his first experience of European football, with the Hammers last taste nine years ago, having qualified for this year’s tournament through the fair play league.

And he can’t wait to lead out a youthful West Ham side.

“I’m very excited to play in Europe,” he said, at yesterday’s pre-match press conference. “It’s my first time, and to be captain is obviously a huge honour.

“Not many teams can sell out a Europa League fixture, but we have and that’s excellent. It shows the passion our fans have for Europe. Normally I’d be on holiday, but I’d much rather be playing.

“I can’t wait to get going again. As this is the last season at Upton Park we want to make it as special as possible and the Europa League is a great way of doing that.”

Tomkins, who has been with West Ham since he was spotted as a seven-year-old, also revealed that he was pleased by the appointment of Slaven Bilic as manager – even though he will not be leading the side tonight as he has chosen to remain with other players at their Ireland training camp.

“He’s obviously a very popular figure here at West Ham,” said Tomkins, who appeared at the press briefing with academy manager Terry Westley who will be in charge.

“I’m looking forward to working with him.”

Westley has also announced Morgan Amalfitano, Mauro Zarate, Joey O’Brien, Matt Jarvis and Diafra Sakho will start the match.