{"id":36491,"date":"2026-06-17T15:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T15:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:54:23","slug":"scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>NYON, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 After <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Disastrous defeat in the final match<\/span> Heart of Midlothian&#8217;s long road to the lucrative Champions League in the Scottish Premiership begins in Austria in July.<\/p>\n<p>Hearts will be drawn against Sturm Graz in Wednesday&#8217;s second qualifying round draw and will need to advance through three rounds to qualify for the 36-team league which begins in September.<\/p>\n<p>Scottish champions Celtic, who defeated long-time leaders Hearts in the final game last month, will start in the play-off qualifying round in late August.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Fenerbahce<\/span> The other team that won runner-up in the mid-sized league will play against Gornik Zabrze.<\/p>\n<p>The first leg matches will begin two days after the World Cup final and will be played on July 21st and 22nd. The return game is in a week.<\/p>\n<p>Since losing the title race, Hearts have seen star forward Lawrence Shankland, currently on World Cup duty with Scotland, join Rangers. The storied Glasgow club are also set to hire coach Derek McInnes from Hearts just five weeks before the start of their Champions League qualifying program.<\/p>\n<p>Opponents in the third qualifying round could be Bodeau\/Glimt, Lyon or Union Saint Giroise.<\/p>\n<h2>Surprise champion steps up <\/h2>\n<p>On Wednesday, the two first-time national champions took part in another second qualifying round draw for national title holders, with very different results.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">swiss champion thun<\/span> First, they faced Champions League regulars Dinamo Zagreb at home, resulting in a tough draw.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">Mj\u00e4rby in Sweden<\/span> They will also face Gibraltar&#8217;s Lincoln Red Imps or Andorra&#8217;s Inter Club Descaldes at home. The two sides will meet in the first qualifying round over two legs in early July.<\/p>\n<p>Thun and Mjarby are unseeded in this draw and are certain to face a seeded team, which could be Dynamo, former European champions Red Star Belgrade or Lincoln, who played in the third tier of the Conference last season and have a higher UEFA ranking.<\/p>\n<p>Red Star, the 1991 European Cup winners, will now face San Marino&#8217;s Tre Fiori or Northern Ireland&#8217;s Larne in an away game.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/uefa-champions-league-qualifying-draw-hearts-a0613dbdce109be7e35caad81fff111b\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NYON, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 After Disastrous defeat in the final match Heart of Midlothian&#8217;s long road to the lucrative Champions League in the Scottish Premiership begins in Austria in July. Hearts will be drawn against Sturm Graz in Wednesday&#8217;s second qualifying round draw and will need to advance through three rounds to qualify for the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NYON, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 After Disastrous defeat in the final match Heart of Midlothian&#8217;s long road to the lucrative Champions League in the Scottish Premiership begins in Austria in July. Hearts will be drawn against Sturm Graz in Wednesday&#8217;s second qualifying round draw and will need to advance through three rounds to qualify for the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T15:54:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin_ok9yktt6\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/\",\"name\":\"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T15:54:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg\",\"width\":980,\"height\":653},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/\",\"name\":\"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\",\"description\":\"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9\",\"name\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin_ok9yktt6\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","og_description":"NYON, Switzerland (AP) \u2014 After Disastrous defeat in the final match Heart of Midlothian&#8217;s long road to the lucrative Champions League in the Scottish Premiership begins in Austria in July. Hearts will be drawn against Sturm Graz in Wednesday&#8217;s second qualifying round draw and will need to advance through three rounds to qualify for the","og_url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/","og_site_name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","article_published_time":"2026-06-17T15:54:23+00:00","author":"admin_ok9yktt6","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin_ok9yktt6","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/","name":"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-06-17T15:54:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/urlhttps3A2F2Fassets.apnews.com2F452Ff42Fddd1f53479f4f1a92ae7b12a84dd2F0fd6bb5cbe3e474aa7e9f6d30ccd4db9.jpeg","width":980,"height":653},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/scottish-side-hearts-were-paired-with-sturm-graz-in-the-champions-league-qualifiers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scottish side Hearts were paired with Sturm Graz in the Champions League qualifiers"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/","name":"EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates","description":"EPL VIP is your ultimate source for all things related to the English Premier League. Get the latest EPL news, live match updates, transfer rumors, team analysis, fixtures, and exclusive insights for true football fans.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6b2ade58a96ab056f743f12490573ae9","name":"admin_ok9yktt6","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3caa6e0fae133a2d8ebe213abde6eafe85769664d063c8ab6c7960c877d904ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin_ok9yktt6"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/eplvip.com"],"url":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/author\/admin_ok9yktt6\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}