Heart of Midlothian will make the more than 8,000km round trip to play Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan next month in their Conference League opener
Heart of Midlothian will face Danish giants Copenhagen in the league phase of the Conference League as well as Cercle Brugge who defeated Kilmarnock
There will be home games with German outfit Heidenheim, Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia and Petrocub of Moldova, plus an away game against Dinamo Minsk, who have been playing their games in Mezőkövesd, 134km east of Budapest, behind closed doors.
The six games:
- Copenhagen (a)
- Heidenheim (h)
- Omonia Nicosia (h)
- Cercle Brugge (a)
- Petrocub (h)
- Dinamo Minsk (a)
Hearts dropped into the Conference League after losing 2-0 on aggregate to Czech side Viktoria Plzen which included Thursday night’s 1-0 loss at Tynecastle Park with the team booed off.
The fixture dates and venues will be confirmed tomorrow, August 31. There will be two games in October, two in November and two in December.
Hearts have already earned €175,000 as a losing fee for the play-off round. The starting fee in the Conference League is €3.17million, made up of a €3.05million down payment and €120,000 balance. Each win will net €400,000 with a draw bringing in €133,000.
With the Conference League now a league phase. Each spot in the league is worth €75,000 increments from 36th to 1st with an additional €200,000 for qualification to the knockout play-off round.
Fixture dates
Matchday 1: 3 October
Matchday 2: 24 October
Matchday 3: 7 November
Matchday 4: 28 November
Matchday 5: 12 December
Matchday 6: 19 December
Heart of Midlothian FC
Europa Conference League
Hearts FC
