Hearts will play their opening leg of the playoff series against Viktoria Plzen on Thursday, as they battle for a spot in the revamped Europa League group stage.
Plzen advanced past the third qualifying round to set up this pivotal two-leg match, while the Scottish team is playing their first European test of the year.
Hearts ended the 2023–24 season with just one victory in their final six games, and they have now started the next season cautiously even though they finished third in the Scottish Premiership standings behind Glasgow’s Old Firm.
After a poor preseason, the Edinburgh team has only won one of its two league games, and head coach Steven Naismith is under even more pressure after his team lost to Falkirk in the League Cup last week.
Hearts are now playing on the European scene for the first time since they qualified for the Europa Conference League in 2022–2023, where they lost in the group stage.
In order to secure at least eight games between September and January under the newly extended Europa League format, the Jambos will be keen to reverse their poor run and defeat Plzen.
But that sums up the magnitude of the task before of them; on Thursday, they will aim for just their sixth away victory in UEFA competition since the year 2000.
Moreover, the Doosan Arena in Plzen can be a challenging venue for guests to enter, given that the hosts this week have established a solid name in Europe over the previous few years.
Recent group-stage campaigns in the Conference League and Champions League have brought with them very different fates. For example, the Czech club finished last season with maximum points from their Conference League group despite losing all six games in the premier competition two years earlier.
They proceeded to the quarterfinals, where they were only defeated by Fiorentina in extra time, the eventual finalists, and ended their domestic campaign by finishing third for the second year in a row.
The last time Plzen won the Czech championship was in 2022, but Miroslav Koubek’s team is closing in on First League leaders Sparta Prague after four wins and one tie this season.
After defeating Kryvbas in their first Europa League qualifying match, they most recently triumphed 3-0 on the road against Ceske Budejovice to maintain their unbeaten streak.
Viktoria completed the deal with a 1-0 victory at home following a 2-1 first-leg triumph over the Ukrainian team. Daniel Vasulin, a striker, scored goals in both games.
