Hearts' alluring Europa League draw: Why Plzen are dangerous, beer capital and Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih's storied manager

Hearts look bound for either Slovakia or the Czech Republic in the play-off round of the Europa League after the draw paired them with the winners of the qualifying tie between Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and Viktoria Plzeň.

Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih are a Ukrainian Premier League club but will play their home game against Viktoria in the Slovakian city of Kosice because of the war in their homeland. This is also likely to be the venue for the play-off round should they overcome their Czech opponents, although Plzen will be heavy favourites to go through.

Hearts will be away in the first leg, on Thursday August 22, before welcoming either Kryvbas or Viktoria to Tynecastle on August 29.

An aggregate win for Hearts would take them into the Europa League proper which has been radically revamped this season. The group stage has been replaced by a single 36-team league where each side faces eight different teams (four at home, four away). The top eight will advance directly to the round of 16; sides finishing from ninth to 24th will contest the knockout round play-offs, with the victors going through to the last 16. From then on it is a straight knockout.

Viktoria Plzen will be favourites to progress and face Hearts | AFP via Getty Images

Hearts are guaranteed ‘league stage’ European football regardless of the outcome of their play-off tie. If they lose they will drop into the Conference League which has also been recast as a single 36-team league. The format differs slightly from the Europa League in that each side plays only six different teams (three at home, three away). After that, the competition follows the same format, with the top eight from the league phase qualifying directly for the round of 16; sides finishing ninth to 24th go into the knockout round play-offs, with the victors progressing to the last 16.  

Viktoria Plzen have an impressive European pedigree and would be challenging opponents for Hearts. They reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League last season where they were edged out by Fiorentina after extra time. To add some context, Fiorentina went on to reach the final for the second year in a row and are well known to Hearts fans after a dishing out a couple of heavy beating to the Gorgie side during the Conference League group phase in 2022-23.

Viktoria finished third in the Czech First League last season, 17 points behind champions Sparta Prague and 15 behind runners-up Slavia Prague. They are managed by Miroslav Koubek, a hugely experienced coach who led the Pilsen club to the title in 2015 during his previous spell in charge. The former goalkeeper is 72 and returned to Viktoria last summer after spells at Bohemians and Hradec Králové. He replaced Michal Bílek, the former Czech national manager, as boss.

Their run in Europe last season began in the second qualifying round and they beat Drita of Kosovo, Gzira of Malta and Tobol of Kazakhstan to reach the group phase where they came out top of a section featuring Dinamo Zagreb, Astana and Ballkani, becoming the first Czech team in a UEFA competition to record six wins in the group stage. They overcame Swiss side Servette in the last 16 before losing to Fiorentina.

Plzen faced Barcelona in 2022 in the Champions League | AFP via Getty Images

They have won the Czech title six times since 2010-11 so have plenty of European experience, including in the group stage of the Champions League, most recently in the 2022-23 season when they played Bayern Munich, Internazionale and Barcelona. They lost 2-1 to Sparta Prague in the Czech Cup final last season.

Viktoria play their home games at the Doosan Arena which has a modest capacity of 11.700 so tickets may be hard to come by for travelling Hearts fans should the Czechs make it through. Plzen is an impressive Bohemian city, situated around 50 miles west of Prague, and is most famous for being home of Pilsner beer, or lager. Bavarian brewer Josef Groll is credited with creating the brew in the city in 1842 and the Pilsner Urquell Brewery is located there and is the largest in the Czech Republic.

Less is known about Kryvbas, who hail from the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih and finished third in the Ukrainian league last season as well as reaching the last 16 of the domestic cup. The club have been dogged by financial problems in recent years and have gone through bankruptcy and rebrandings. The current incarnation won promotion from the second tier in 2022 and the match against Viktoria will mark their debut in European football.

Kryvbas’ head coach Yuriy Vernydub played for Zenit Saint Petersburg. His greatest coaching achievement came in the 2021-22 season when he led Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol to a stunning 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the Champions League group stage.  He left Sheriff to join the Ukraine armed forces in response to Russia's invasion in 2022.

Yuriy Vernydub is the manager of Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih | Getty Images

Hearts played the Ukrainian side Dnipro in the UEFA Cup in 1990-91 when it was still part of the Soviet Union and won 4-2 on aggregate. The Tynecastle side have come against Czech teams three times in Europe. They were edged out by Dukla Prague on away goals in 1986-87, beat Slavia Prague memorably in 1992-93 and lost to Sparta Prague in 2006-07.

Hearts have advised supporters not to make any travel plans for the play-off round until UEFA has confirmed exact details in terms of dates, kick-off times and locations.