Hearts are boosted by seeding in Europa draw

Hearts have been buoyed by the news that they will be seeded in the third qualifying round draw for the Europa League.

The Tynecastle side will still have to negotiate two rounds before reaching the group stages, but they are now certain to avoid the likes of Atletico Madrid, Red Star Belgrade and Serie A side Palermo when their name goes into the hat on Thursday 15 July.

"It would be nice if we could get through a couple of rounds, it's one round and then the play-offs," said Hearts manager Jim Jefferies, who last tasted Europe with Hearts against Stuttgart in the Uefa Cup in 2001 - just months before he left to join Bradford City. They will be tough matches but it would be great to get to the Europa League group section. It will be a big ask in terms of the squad because there will be a lot of distractions but it would be good to get to the group stages and give everyone a lot more European nights to look forward to."

Hearts would have entered the competition on 14 July at the second-round stage had Motherwell beaten Celtic in the Scottish Cup final. They are now able to get a Scottish Premier League game under their belts before engaging in competitive European action, with the league season scheduled to begin on the weekend of 23/24 July.

"It's worked in our favour because the 14th would have been a very early start for us. But because Celtic won the cup, we now go into the next round which starts on the 28th. That's a bit of a bonus for us."

Potential opponents include Republic of Ireland's Sligo Rovers, Hajduk Split of Croatia, and Cypriot side Omonia Nicosia, where former Hearts players Bruno Aguiar and Christos Karipidis now play.

Ties are scheduled to be played on Thursday, 28 July, with the return leg a week later on 4 August.