Hearts In European competition 2026/2027

[Quando, Quando, Quando]

So, who would we like to meet in European competition?

Some good possibilities and a thorough primer on 'Hearts Standard'.

 

https://www.heartsstandard.co.uk/news/26117106.can-hearts-face-champions-league-aston-villa-interest/

[Gorgiewave]

Have we ever been in Europe beyond Christmas other than 1988-89? That would be a good ambition.

[DxB Hearts]

I think we’re at the weird inbetween stage when it comes to opponents. We weren’t that far of POAK and clearly better than Rosenborg. But we’ll play more POAK level teams than Rosenborgs in the qualifiers. 

 

Olympiakos and Fenerbahce will be roughly the level of POAK, maybe a bit better and a lot more experienced in Europe, so we won’t be a million miles away from them but it’ll take a lot for us to get through those fixtures. 
 

Next season may be too soon to properly compete against that level with any sort of confidence but I do think we can get there in the future. 

[Pingu]

One thing I'm not clear on, and trying to figure out....  If we drop all the way down into the Conference League playoff round, what are the chances of us being seeded?

[Gorgiewave]

6 minutes ago, Pingu said:

One thing I'm not clear on, and trying to figure out....  If we drop all the way down into the Conference League playoff round, what are the chances of us being seeded?

Apparently we would be seeded.

[Jamboross]

13 minutes ago, Pingu said:

One thing I'm not clear on, and trying to figure out....  If we drop all the way down into the Conference League playoff round, what are the chances of us being seeded?

 

Unlikely and probably dependent on some higher ranked teams being knocked out in earlier rounds. Our coefficient of 11.500 would have had us as the third highest ranked non-seeds this year. The lowest ranked seeds this season had a coefficient of 14.000 so we'll probably need a bit of luck but I don't think it's impossible. 

[Pingu]

13 minutes ago, Gorgiewave said:

Apparently we would be seeded.

 

1 minute ago, Jamboross said:

 

Unlikely and probably dependent on some higher ranked teams being knocked out in earlier rounds. Our coefficient of 11.500 would have had us as the third highest ranked non-seeds this year. The lowest ranked seeds this season had a coefficient of 14.000 so we'll probably need a bit of luck but I don't think it's impossible. 

 

Doing my own research and I think @Jamboross is correct here. Took out a free 7 day trial at Scottish Coefficient's substack and the article on Hearts states we'd be unseeded. So we'll have to beat a seeded team at some stage to make the leagues in any competition. 

[Jamboross]

26 minutes ago, DxB Hearts said:

I think we’re at the weird inbetween stage when it comes to opponents. We weren’t that far of POAK and clearly better than Rosenborg. But we’ll play more POAK level teams than Rosenborgs in the qualifiers. 

 

Olympiakos and Fenerbahce will be roughly the level of POAK, maybe a bit better and a lot more experienced in Europe, so we won’t be a million miles away from them but it’ll take a lot for us to get through those fixtures. 
 

Next season may be too soon to properly compete against that level with any sort of confidence but I do think we can get there in the future. 

 

Have you seen Fenerbache's team? Kante, Akturkoglu, Ederson, Guendouzi, Fred, Semedo, Asensio, Skriniar and Talisca plus a handful of other internationals. They are an aging team (with some decent youngsters too) but they are levels above anything we've played in Europe for some time. 

[Cade]

Feck knows about the seedings, but here's the path

[Victorian]

The calibre of opponent in CLQ2 is unreal.   All of them are credible pool stage teams.   All of them are clubs you would expect in the Europa pool stage as an annual bare minimum.   It's some uplift in company from the Europa and Conference rounds.   

[DxB Hearts]

13 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

Have you seen Fenerbache's team? Kante, Akturkoglu, Ederson, Guendouzi, Fred, Semedo, Asensio, Skriniar and Talisca plus a handful of other internationals. They are an aging team (with some decent youngsters too) but they are levels above anything we've played in Europe for some time. 

I agree they’re very good but look at their results last season - some very good ones that would be miles ahead of us but also drew against Ferencvaros, Plezn and Steaua Bucharest - three teams we’d be highly confident against. 
 

My point is/was they’re obviously a very strong team but they’re not playing a totally different game and won’t be that far off POAK. Fully agree us getting through against them next season would be a serious giant killing though. 

[Gorgiewave]

3 minutes ago, DxB Hearts said:

I agree they’re very good but look at their results last season - some very good ones that would be miles ahead of us but also drew against Ferencvaros, Plezn and Steaua Bucharest - three teams we’d be highly confident against. 
 

My point is/was they’re obviously a very strong team but they’re not playing a totally different game and won’t be that far off POAK. Fully agree us getting through against them next season would be a serious giant killing though. 

Why would we be highly confident against any of the named teams? We'd be underdogs against them all.

[DxB Hearts]

3 minutes ago, Gorgiewave said:

Why would we be highly confident against any of the named teams? We'd be underdogs against them all.

Sorry highly confident was wrong - confident. We could/should have beaten Plzen and we were a far far worse team than we are now. 
 

If we were drawn against either FCSB or Ferencvaros in a qualifier I think we would all be pretty happy, no? 

[RustyRightPeg]

1 hour ago, DxB Hearts said:

I think we’re at the weird inbetween stage when it comes to opponents. We weren’t that far of POAK and clearly better than Rosenborg. But we’ll play more POAK level teams than Rosenborgs in the qualifiers. 

 

Olympiakos and Fenerbahce will be roughly the level of POAK, maybe a bit better and a lot more experienced in Europe, so we won’t be a million miles away from them but it’ll take a lot for us to get through those fixtures. 
 

Next season may be too soon to properly compete against that level with any sort of confidence but I do think we can get there in the future. 

Fenerbahce are not the level of PAOK. Not even close. They’re several levels above it. We would be hundreds of thousands of miles away from them. 

Edited May 20 by RustyRightPeg

[Smithian]

31 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

Have you seen Fenerbache's team? Kante, Akturkoglu, Ederson, Guendouzi, Fred, Semedo, Asensio, Skriniar and Talisca plus a handful of other internationals. They are an aging team (with some decent youngsters too) but they are levels above anything we've played in Europe for some time. 

I'm still scarred by the Basaksehir beat downs

 

But if you go back and look at the Hearts starting XI and today it's not the same club. It makes you appreciate Lawrence Shankland carrying the squad his first couple seasons

[Jamboross]

6 minutes ago, DxB Hearts said:

Sorry highly confident was wrong - confident. We could/should have beaten Plzen and we were a far far worse team than we are now. 
 

If we were drawn against either FCSB or Ferencvaros in a qualifier I think we would all be pretty happy, no? 

 

FCSB we'd be competitive against, even Aberdeen gave them a fright this season, but Ferencvaros would be very difficult these days. 

[DxB Hearts]

8 minutes ago, RustyRightPeg said:

Fenerbahce are not the level of PAOK. Not even close. They’re several levels above it. We would be hundreds of thousands of miles away from them. 

POAK won the Greek league the season we played them and have been in and around Olympiakos/Panathinaikos for years now. 
 

There’s no direct comparison but to put that in perspective Olympiakos beat Fenerbahce when they played them last year. 

Oh and POAK finished above them in the Europa league groups this season. 

 

Edited May 20 by DxB Hearts

[Gorgiewave]

14 minutes ago, DxB Hearts said:

Sorry highly confident was wrong - confident. We could/should have beaten Plzen and we were a far far worse team than we are now. 
 

If we were drawn against either FCSB or Ferencvaros in a qualifier I think we would all be pretty happy, no? 

By the standards of other possible opponents, yes. We'd still likely lose.

[DxB Hearts]

Just to be really clear here - I don’t think we’d beat Fenerbahce. If we did it would be a minor miracle. 

 

For the the likes of Plzen, we are a far better team that we’ve been in decades, we should go into these games thinking we can and should go through. 

[Pingu]

Think we very much need to cross our fingers for Sturm Graz! Villa winning tonight would be the first piece of the puzzle.

[tartofmidlothian]

1 hour ago, Gorgiewave said:

Have we ever been in Europe beyond Christmas other than 1988-89? That would be a good ambition.

 

If we beat our first opponents in Champions League Qualifying Round 2 in July, we've done it. Even if we lose Round 3 we go straight into the Europa groups, not the Europa playoff, and they end in January.

 

Kudos to the person who pointed this out the other day, I had no idea.

[The Merse]

Long road to even secure any sort of league phase. Realistically speaking, getting into the conference league would be an achievement.

[maybolejambo]

Ferencvaros always reminds me of wee Robbo aiming a kick at lazlo's arse😂

[kettering jam tart]

So Villa 2 up. They win and it’s fenerbache or strum Graz? Or do Villa also need to finish 4th in the EPL?

[fast_blood]

Just now, kettering jam tart said:

So Villa 2 up. They win and it’s fenerbache or strum Graz? Or do Villa also need to finish 4th in the EPL?

I think both need to happen 

[InternationalJambo]

Buzzing for Del to set us up to park the bus and for us to shithouse an away win in one of these games 

[hmfc_liam06]

Fenerbahce are significantly better than PAOK.

[vegas-voss]

4 ties just to hopefully get the Conference 🥺

[Jamboross]

5 minutes ago, kettering jam tart said:

So Villa 2 up. They win and it’s fenerbache or strum Graz? Or do Villa also need to finish 4th in the EPL?

 

Need 4th as well which might be an ask. City away in their last game who'll want a win to mark Pep's final match, Liverpool 3 points behind with a better goal difference and finish at home to Brentford. 

[Victorian]

1 minute ago, vegas-voss said:

4 ties just to hopefully get the Conference 🥺

 

No 3 ties.  Win CLQ2 or 3 = Europa pool stage.   Or lose CLQ2 = Europa play-off.   Win that = Europa pool stage.   Or lose that = Conf play-off.

 

3 bites.   Any tie won = pool stages.

[Jamboross]

Just now, Victorian said:

 

No 3 ties.  Win CLQ2 or 3 = Europa pool stage.   Or lose CLQ2 = Europa play-off.   Win that = Europa pool stage.   Or lose that = Conf play-off.

 

3 bites.   Any tie won = pool stages.

 

Not quite. 

 

Lose CLQ2 and we're in ELQR3 not the playoff. Win that and we're in the EL-PO, lose and into CON-PO. 

[Victorian]

2 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

Not quite. 

 

Lose CLQ2 and we're in ELQR3 not the playoff. Win that and we're in the EL-PO, lose and into CON-PO. 

 

Yes,  sorry.

 

Still the same 3 bites deal.   Win any tie.

[hmfc_liam06]

2 minutes ago, Jamboross said:

 

Not quite. 

 

Lose CLQ2 and we're in ELQR3 not the playoff. Win that and we're in the EL-PO, lose and into CON-PO. 

This is correct.

 

We’ve 3 attempts at group stage football.

[vegas-voss]

7 minutes ago, Victorian said:

 

No 3 ties.  Win CLQ2 or 3 = Europa pool stage.   Or lose CLQ2 = Europa play-off.   Win that = Europa pool stage.   Or lose that = Conf play-off.

 

3 bites.   Any tie won = pool stages.

👍

[El Prez]

Villa 3 up & done.

 

We all become Brentford fans now.

[Victorian]

Going back to the chat at the time of our last Conference campaign.   The Petrocub match was number 100 in Europe (albeit the Fairs Cup matches in the 1960s are not fully recognised by UEFA as it wasn't their tournament).   

 

Guaranteed 6 matches this time.   14 if we perform the mother of all miracles to reach CL pool.   12 or 14 if we find a route into the Europa pool.   12 from ending in the Conference pool.   

 

Potentially as many as 16 matches if we play CLQ2 then Europa Q3 then Europa play-off then Europa pool and achieve top 24 of 36.   Or 16 by reaching the Conference round of 16.

 

😬

[Badonde]

15 minutes ago, El Prez said:

Villa 3 up & done.

 

We all become Brentford fans now.

What happens if Brentford win like?

[PortyJambo]

16 minutes ago, El Prez said:

Villa 3 up & done.

 

We all become Brentford fans now.

Aaron Hickey with a 40 yard screamer to help us out

[El Prez]

1 minute ago, Badonde said:

What happens if Brentford win like?

Villa finish 4th.

 

We want that.

[PortyJambo]

1 minute ago, Badonde said:

What happens if Brentford win like?

Villa finish 4th and we "should" have a, slightly, easier tie

[Jamtarts-1874]

34 minutes ago, hmfc_liam06 said:

Fenerbahce are significantly better than PAOK.

Aye. Joel Sked claimed they didn't have many stars....

 

Kante, Fred, Ederson, Ascensio, Skriniar, Talisca, Guendouzi, Akturkoglu, Semedo.

 

They would likely hammer us.

 

Can only hope Villa finish 4th and we get Sturm Gratz 🙏. 

[Quando, Quando, Quando]

2 hours ago, tartofmidlothian said:

 

38 minutes ago, vegas-voss said:

4 ties just to hopefully get the Conference 🥺

 

]

Edited May 20 by Quando, Quando, Quando

[Sergio]

[Victorian]

Including Fairs Cup Hibs are on 112 matches.   They played 36 in the Fairs to our 12 which included 2 tie-breakers.   Dundee United 116.   Annoyingly Aberdeen 'famously' on 166.   Hibs' 112 includes 8 Intertoto matches.   🤡🤡🤡

 

We could go past Hibs and Dundee United but will anyway.   Aberdeen in a few years time.  😃

Edited May 20 by Victorian

[Jambo in Yorkshire]

30 minutes ago, El Prez said:

Villa finish 4th.

 

We want that.

I think Villa need to finish 5th as that’s the only way England get 6 places in the CL. If that happens teams move up and we get Fenerbahce or Sturm Graz

[Garrincha]

I think we need to increase our expectation levels. Look at it this way - the old firm would expect to beat some of these teams, and we have beaten them 5 times this season. We are better equipped than we’ve ever been to take on a European challenge, even against sides we’d traditionally fear

[BlingCrosby]

14 minutes ago, Jambo in Yorkshire said:

I think Villa need to finish 5th as that’s the only way England get 6 places in the CL. If that happens teams move up and we get Fenerbahce or Sturm Graz

It’s 4th Villa need, according to Hearts Standard. Basically Villa need to at least match Liverpool’s result. Even more reason to cheer on Aaron Hickey. 

[Watt-Zeefuik]

3 hours ago, Victorian said:

 

Yes,  sorry.

 

Still the same 3 bites deal.   Win any tie.

 

Sorry but let's dump that attitude.

 

Win three rounds, get another 10k seats at Tynecastle.

 

We might draw a monster. But we might also draw some duds.

[FarmerTweedy]

 

7 hours ago, Jamboross said:

 

Unlikely and probably dependent on some higher ranked teams being knocked out in earlier rounds. Our coefficient of 11.500 would have had us as the third highest ranked non-seeds this year. The lowest ranked seeds this season had a coefficient of 14.000 so we'll probably need a bit of luck but I don't think it's impossible. 

 

7 hours ago, Pingu said:

 

 

Doing my own research and I think @Jamboross is correct here. Took out a free 7 day trial at Scottish Coefficient's substack and the article on Hearts states we'd be unseeded. So we'll have to beat a seeded team at some stage to make the leagues in any competition. 

 

I'm not sure if our coefficient will matter.  The draw for the Conference playoff round would be done before our Europa League Q3 tie is finished, so it would be "Hearts or team X" in the draw (the loser being the one that actually features in the tie that's drawn out.  They'd have to seed us/team X based on one of our coefficients but not I'm not sure if they'd used the higher of the two (almost certainly team X) or the lower (almost certainly ours) for seeding purposes for the conference league draw.

[Ricardo Quaresma]

-

Edited May 21 by Ricardo Quaresma
never mind lol