Heart of Midlothian traveled to Austria on Monday ahead of their Champions League 2nd round qualifying match against Sturm Graz today.

The Edinburgh side have not played Champions League football since the 2005/06 season where they entered in the same round. They faced Croatian side Siroki Brijeg and won 3-0  across both legs.

They progressed to the third qualifying round where they faced AEK Athens. This tie finished 5-1 on aggregate to the Greek side.

Since then Hearts have had a few entries into European football. Most recently during the 2024/25 season where they entered into the Europa League playoff round then dropped to the League phase of the Conference League where they finished 25th in the official standings and did not progress to the knock out play-offs.

Sturm Graz on the other hand are not shy of Champions League football. They have played 7 times in the competition since Hearts were last there.  Their most successful campaign during that time was the 2024/25 season where they played in the League Phase of the tournament.

The Austrian side come into this game off the back of a successful season last year in the Austrian Bundesliga. Finishing top of the league before they split, similarly to the SPFL, into the Championship Group.

They finished 2nd in the Championship Group just 2 points behind winners LASK.

Wouter Vrancken spoke during a press conference ahead of the tie saying “We are as ready as possible. I think everybody worked hard to come here, to be here and now we need to give it our best”

“I think it is very important that you show guts from the start and don’t think about the other qualifiers or next rounds”