Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Like Hearts, Sturm Graz narrowly missed out on their domestic title
- Published39 minutes ago
Heart of Midlothian will face Austrian club Sturm Graz in the second round of Champions League qualifying.
The Edinburgh club will be playing in the qualifiers of Europe's top club competition for the first time in 20 years after finishing runners-up in the Scottish Premiership following a final-day defeat by reigning champions Celtic.
Sturm Graz also finished second in their domestic league behind LASK.
The Austrian club will host the first leg on 21/22 July, with the reverse fixture the following midweek.
By that time Hearts will likely be under new management, with head coach Derek McInnes seemingly poised to switch to Rangers and the Edinburgh club expected to choose a replacement within days.
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Hearts had been unseeded along with Gornik Zabrze in the section of the draw for league runners-up, with the Polish side being drawn against Fenerbahce of Turkey.
Should Hearts defeat the Austrians, they will be unseeded and face either Lyon, Bodo/Glimt, Olympiacos or the winner of Fenerbahce against Gornik Zabrze.
Had they been drawn against Fenerbahce and defeated the Turks, they would have been seeded for the next round and could have been drawn against Union Saint-Gilloise, the Belgium club who also use Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom's Jamestown Analytics scouting system following investment by the gambling tycoon.
Should Hearts lose to Sturm Graz, they will drop into the Europa League third qualifying round and would be unseeded in the same part of the draw as Rangers, who will be seeded for their first European fixture of the season.
Sturm Graz lost 6-2 on aggregate to Bodo/Glimt in the play-off round last season and beat Rangers 2-1 at home and lost by the same score away to Celtic after dropping down to the Europa League and finishing 26th of the 36 teams.
Head coach Fabio Ingolitsch had been appointed during the winter break moving from Austrian Bundesliga rivals Rheindorf Altach after Jurgen Saumel exited with his side sitting third in the table.
Sturm Graz finished the regular season top by a point, but similar to Hearts, they finished two points behind LASK after the league split into a championship round.
In Hearts' last appearance in Champions League qualifying, they defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina's Siroki Brijeg in the second qualifying round before losing to AEK Athens and dropping into the Uefa Cup (now Europa League).
