Hearts have today been drawn with Estonian side FC Infonet in the first qualifying round draw of the 2016/17 Europa Cup competition.
The first leg of the tie is pencilled in for June 30 at Tynecastle, with the return leg in Tallinn on July 7.
The dates are now confirmed, and Hearts were due to be away for the first leg, but UEFA have now confirmed the switching of the legs over due to a potential clash of fixtures originally.
The winner of this tie will go on to face either NK Siroko Brijeg (Bosnia) or Birkirkara FC (Malta) in the second qualifying round.
Second qualifying round fixtures are provisionally July 14 and July 21 and if Hearts progress through to that stage the first leg will again be away from home.
Speaking to the Official Site after the draw was made, head coach Robbie Neilson said he was pleased with the draw – but at the time with the first leg set to be away, he felt it would help us.
With the first leg now home, we’ll have to await his final thoughts.
‘It`s a good draw, it`s good to get an away leg first and hopefully we`ll be in a good position when we return to Tynecastle for the second leg. I think it`s always good to get an away draw first. We have to go over there and get a good result, then we`ll be confident heading back to Tynecastle. The boys are ready, it will be a difficult test but one that we`re very much looking forward to. We`re getting to work on preparation straight away. Our video analyst is already working on getting some footage in so we`ll be able to study them. We`re at our training base in St Andrews now and the facilities here are excellent. We`ll be able to prepare properly and the boys are looking in great shape, they`ve responded really well since coming back to training.’
