UEFA confirm Hearts away leg date and kick-off time against Sturm Graz
Champions League qualifying campaign starts in Austria
UEFA have confirmed dates for both legs of Hearts’ Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz. The two clubs were paired together in Wednesday’s second qualifying round draw in Nyon, and Hearts will play the first leg in Austria.
The date of the away match is now set as Tuesday, 21 July, with an 8.30pm kick-off local time {7.30pm UK time]. The return leg will take place at Tynecastle Park a week later on Tuesday, 28 July. Kick-off for that match has yet to be confirmed.
Sturm finished second in the Austrian Bundesliga this season, losing out on the title to LASK Linz by two points. They will be a tough opponent, although Hearts will be relieved to have avoided Turkish giants Fenerbahce in the draw. A trip to Austria is considered slightly less daunting that travelling to Istanbul.
The number of Hearts fans likely to make the journey is expected to be between 1,000 and 2,000, but that may depend on ticket allocation. The club finished second in this season’s Scottish Premiership to secure a return to the Champions League’s qualifying phase for the first time in 20 years.
Since the end of the season, they have lost manager Derek McInnes to Rangers as well as a number of first-team players. Captain Lawrence Shankland invoked a contract clause to move to Ibrox, while defenders Lewis Neilson and Frankie Kent have gone following the expiry of their contracts. Midfielder Beni Bangingime and winger Alan Forrest were also not offered new deals. Cammy Devlin has yet to decide his future.
Hearts have been busy in terms of recruitment with five new signings already completed. Wingers Josh McPake and Calvin Miller, defenders MJ Kamson-Kamara and Malachi Fagan-Walcott, plus forward Amadou Ba-Sy are all set to report to Riccarton for pre-season training next week. Midfielder Tom Renaud should follow that quintet.
Sturm confirmed on Tuesday that they can host Champions League qualifiers at their own ground this summer. The Liebenauer Stadium - renamed the Merkur Arena through sponsorship - was undergoing renovation work which was not expected to be finished until the end of July.
The Austrians had anticipated playing their first home European match in Klagenfurt, 83 miles south of Graz. Sturm staged last season’s Champions League qualifying tie against Bodo/Glimt there, but they announced publicly that they can stage the game at home after all. The Liebenauer has a capacity of 16,364.
Sturm will be a tough opponent for Hearts having reached the league phase of this season’s Europa League. They narrowly missed out on a knockout play-off place by finishing 26th in the table. Along the along, they beat Rangers 2-1 in Graz and lost 2-1 against Celtic in Glasgow.
Their squad contains several established and experienced international players, including Georgian midfielder Otar Kiteishvili, Bosnian defender Arjan Malic, and Polish cap Filip Rozga. Head coach Fabio Ingolitsch is regarded as one of Austria’s brightest managers at the age of 34. He began coaching 10 years ago as injury curtailed his playing career and took charge of Sturm midway through last season.