Hearts and Hibs learn who they could meet in Europe as UEFA confirm Conference League play-off draw pots

Edinburgh clubs hoping to progress but tough tasks await

UEFA have confirmed the seeding pots for Hearts and Hibs ahead of this afternoon’s Europa Conference League play-off draw. Both Edinburgh clubs are hoping to progress from the third qualifying round, which begins this week, to reach the final stage before the tournament’s group phase.

Hearts take on Rosenborg in Trondheim this Thursday in the first leg of their third qualifying round, while Hibs host the Swiss side Lucerne at Easter Road. Second legs take place seven days later on Thursday, August 17. Both sides will be unseeded if they get through and therefore could face daunting ties in the play-off round.

Hearts will be in Group 4 for the draw, which takes place at 1pm UK time this afternoon. That means they could be drawn against Fiorentina again after meeting the Italians in last season’s Conference League group stage. If not, they will meet the winners of one of the following ties: Club Brugge [BEL] v Akureyri [ISL], Partizan Belgrade [SRB] v Sabah Baku [AZE], PAOK Salonika v Hajduk Split [CRO], Maccabi Tel Aviv [ISR] v AEK Larnaca [CYP].

Hibs are in Group 3 and may face English Premier League side Aston Villa or the winners of one of the following ties: Slavia Prague [CZE] v Dnipro [UKR], AZ Alkmaar [NED] v Santa Coloma [AND], Olympiakos [GRE], v Genk [BEL].

First and foremost, both Capital clubs will be focused on this week’s European assignments. If they can achieve positive first-leg results, hopes of progress to the play-off round will increase.