Hearts, Hibernian, and Motherwell Set for European Draws
With the World Cup just underway, three of Scotland's five European representatives are already preparing for next season's early qualifying rounds. Hearts, Hibernian (Hibs), and Motherwell are all involved in Wednesday's draws for the Champions League and Conference League.
Rangers, who enter at the third qualifying round of the Europa League, will also be monitoring potential opponents.
The Champions League draw will take place at 11:00 BST, followed by the Conference League draw two hours later in Nyon.
Hearts to Face Fenerbahce or Sturm Graz
As runners-up in the Scottish Premiership, Hearts will participate in the Champions League qualifiers for the first time in two decades. Their previous campaign saw them defeat Bosnia-Herzegovina's Siroki Brijeg in the second qualifying round before being eliminated by AEK Athens and moving into the UEFA Cup.
Hearts will enter at the same stage and are set to face one of two seeded opponents: Fenerbahce from Turkey or Sturm Graz from Austria. This is within the League Path of the draw, reserved for domestic runners-up.
The first leg of these ties is scheduled for 21/22 July, with the return fixtures the following midweek.
By then, Hearts may be under new management, as head coach Derek McInnes appears poised to move to Rangers.
If Hearts are drawn against Fenerbahce and win, they will be seeded in the third qualifying round. Their potential opponents at that stage include Czech Republic's Sparta Prague, NEC Nijmegen from the Netherlands, the winner between Sturm Graz and Poland's Gornik Zabrze, or Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium.
This scenario could see two clubs associated with Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom face each other. While Bloom has invested in Hearts and Union Saint-Gilloise, his stakes remain below 30% to comply with UEFA's multi-club ownership regulations. All three clubs utilize Bloom's Jamestown Analytics firm for recruitment.
Should Hearts face Sturm Graz and advance, they will be unseeded and could meet Lyon, Bodo/Glimt, Olympiacos, or the winner of Fenerbahce versus Gornik.
If Hearts lose in the first round, they will drop into the Europa League third qualifying round. There, they will be unseeded in the same section of the draw as Rangers, who will be seeded for their first European fixture of the season.
However, many variables remain before the draw on 20 July.
Hibs and Motherwell Face Uncertain Conference League Draw
The Conference League second qualifying round draw is filled with uncertainties.
Despite finishing fifth behind Motherwell in the Premiership last season, Hibs are seeded while Motherwell are not.
Hibs could face a range of opponents on 23 and 30 July, including Swedish clubs GAIS and IFK Gothenburg, Israeli teams Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Tel Aviv, Valur from Iceland, Northern Ireland's Coleraine, and Shelbourne from Ireland.
Motherwell's potential opponents represent a higher competitive level and include Ajax, Braga, Copenhagen, Gent, Rapid Vienna, Panathinaikos, Ludogorets Razgrad, FCSB, Partizan, AEK Larnaca, Rijeka, Cluj, HJK Helsinki, Brann, and Nordsjælland.
These details will become clearer early Wednesday when UEFA divides the teams into groups of six, revealing the five possible opponents for Hibs and Motherwell.
Motherwell are still considering their managerial appointment after Jens Berthel Askou departed for Toulouse following a successful season at Fir Park.
The new manager will aim to avoid a repeat of Motherwell's last Conference League campaign, when they were eliminated at the same stage by Republic of Ireland's Sligo Rovers four years ago.
Hibs head coach David Gray will hope to improve on last season's European performance, which included a narrow loss to Midtjylland in Europa League qualifying, a victory over Partizan in Conference League qualifying, and a subsequent defeat by Legia Warsaw in the play-off round.
