Who are Hearts' Europa League opponents? Detailed dossiers on Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and Viktoria Plzen

NW

Hearts are currently researching both Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and Viktoria Plzen as they gather information on their prospective European opponents. UEFA today paired the Edinburgh club with the winner of this tie in the Europa League play-off draw, and the digging has already started.

Kryvbas meet Plzen this Thursday in the first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round, with the return match in Czech Republic seven days later on 15 August. The winners will progress to meet Hearts in the play-off for the right to take part in the tournament’s new-look league stage. The reward for getting there is likely to be upwards of £6m in extra revenue.

UEFA revamped all three European competitions for this season and chose a 36-team league format similar to the Nations League. In the Europa, the 36 teams will be divided into four pots of nine clubs. Pots are composed according to the club co-efficient ranking established at the start of the season. Each team will play eight games, four at home and four away, against eight different clubs [two from each pot].

Whichever of the two teams above progress to the play-off to meet Hearts are sure to provide a stern test, as our dossiers indicate:

Name: Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih.

Manager: Yuriy Vernydub.

Stadium [temporary]: Košická Futbalová Aréna, Kosice (capacity 12,555).

Star players: Dmytro Khomchenovskyi - captain, former Ukrainian international midfielder; Daniel Sosah - current Niger international striker; Prince Kwabena Adu - Pacy and versatile Ghanaian midfielder/forward.

Last season: Third in Ukrainian Premier League.

Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih are playing European matches in Slovakia due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. They were re-established in 2017 and renamed in 2020. This is their first European campaign since. Head coach Yuriy Vernydub is one of Ukraine’s most admired tacticians. They tend to play an open and attacking game, especially at home. Only Ukrainian league winners Shakhtar Donetsk [63] and runners-up Dynamo Kyiv [72] scored more goals than Kryvbas last season [51] in what was a 30-game league campaign. Normally they line-up in a flexible 4-3-3 formation, which becomes 4-5-1 when out of possession.

Name: Viktoria Plzen.

Manager: Miroslav Koubek.

Stadium: Doosan Arena, Plzen (capacity 11,700).

Star players: Matej Vydra - former Czech Republic forward who played for Burnley, Derby County and Watford; Daniel Vasulin - Czech striker who stands 6ft 4ins tall; Pavel Sulc - Czech international midfielder; Cadu - Brazilian midfielder/wing-back.

Last season: Third in Czech First League. Plzen’s coach, Miroslav Koubek, is a wily 72-year-old with stacks of experience. This is his third spell in charge of Viktoria having previously managed Banik Ostrava, Mlada Boleslav, Slavia Brague, Bohemians and several other Czech clubs. Koubek was appointed last summer and guided Viktoria to the Conference League quarter-finals last season, where they lost 2-0 on aggregate to Fiorentina. Similar to Kryvbas, they are also a team which likes to go forward and score goals. Plzen scored 76 times in 35 league games last season, a total bettered only by champions Sparta Prague. They tend to use a 3-5-2 system where wing-backs and quick forwards are key to their success alongside a physical presence - but they are adaptable and have also used a back four.