Heart of Midlothian F.C. in European football

Heart of Midlothian F.C. played their first official match in competitive European football on the 3rd of September 1958. This made the club only the third Scottish and fifth British team to compete in Europe at the time. Hearts have been beaten on two occasions by the club who would go on to win the competition[note 1] and have also lost twice to the eventual runners–up.[note 2]

Hearts' best showing in European competition was in the 1988–89 UEFA Cup, where they reached the quarter–finals and narrowly lost 2–1 on aggregate to German giants Bayern Munich. Since then, Hearts became both the first–ever Scottish club and the first–ever British club to reach the new group stage format of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup (now the UEFA Europa League). They also qualified for the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, becoming the first non Old Firm team in Scotland to do so since the tournament changed from the European Cup to the Champions League.

The club has an unfortunate record of having never progressed through a tie which has finished level on aggregate after two legs. They lost play–off matches by a single goal to Lausanne–Sport in the 1963–64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and to eventual runners–up Real Zaragoza in the 1965–66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and they lost due to the away goals rule against Dukla Prague, Red Star Belgrade and Stuttgart in the 1986–87 UEFA Cup, 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and 2000–01 UEFA Cup respectively.

Steven Pressley holds the record for playing in the most European matches for Hearts with 23 appearances and John Robertson is the club's top scorer with seven goals. In total, Hearts have appeared in 22 European competitions, with 16 of these coming in the past 29 years.[note 3]

Statistics

Results

Note: In all cases the Hearts score is listed first.

Season Competition Round Opposition Score
First Leg Second Leg Aggregate
1958–59 European Cup Preliminary Round Belgium Standard Liège 1–5 2–1 3–6
1960–61 European Cup Preliminary Round Portugal Benfica 1–2 0–3 1–5
1961–62 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup First Round Belgium Saint–Gilloise 3–1 2–0 5–1
Second Round Italy Inter Milan 0–1 0–4 0–5
1963–64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup First Round Switzerland Lausanne–Sport 2–2 2–2 4–4[note 4]
1965–66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Second Round Norway Vålerenga 1–0 3–1 4–1
Third Round Spain Real Zaragoza 3–3 2–2 5–5[note 5]
1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup First Round East Germany Lokomotive Leipzig 0–2 5–1 5–3
Second Round West Germany Hamburg 2–4 1–4 3–8
1984–85 UEFA Cup First Round France Paris Saint–Germain 0–4 2–2 2–6
1986–87 UEFA Cup First Round Czechoslovakia Dukla Prague 3–2 0–1 3–3[note 6]
1988–89 UEFA Cup First Round Republic of Ireland St. Patrick's Athletic 2–0 2–0 4–0
Second Round Austria Austria Vienna 0–0 1–0 1–0
Third Round Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Velež Mostar 3–0 1–2 4–2
Quarter–Final West Germany Bayern Munich 1–0 0–2 1–2
1990–91 UEFA Cup First Round Soviet Union Dnipro 1–1 3–2 4–2
Second Round Italy Bologna 3–1 0–3 3–4
1992–93 UEFA Cup First Round Czechoslovakia Slavia Prague 0–1 4–2 4–3
Second Round Belgium Standard Liège 0–1 0–1 0–2
1993–94 UEFA Cup First Round Spain Atlético Madrid 2–1 0–3 2–4
1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying Round Serbia and Montenegro Red Star Belgrade 0–0 1–1 1–1[note 7]
1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying Round Estonia Lantana Tallinn 1–0 5–0 6–0
First Round Spain Real Mallorca 0–1 1–1 1–2
2000–01 UEFA Cup Qualifying Round Iceland ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar 2–0 3–0 5–0
First Round Germany Stuttgart 0–1 3–2 3–3[note 8]
2003–04 UEFA Cup First Round Bosnia and Herzegovina Željezničar Sarajevo 2–0 0–0 2–0
Second Round France Bordeaux 1–0 0–2 1–2
2004–05 UEFA Cup First Round Portugal Braga 3–1 2–2 5–3
Group Stage Netherlands Feyenoord 0–3 (away)
Group Stage Germany Schalke 04 0–1 (home)
Group Stage Switzerland Basel 2–1 (away)
Group Stage Hungary Ferencváros 0–1 (home)
2006–07 UEFA Champions League Second Qualifying Round Bosnia and Herzegovina Široki Brijeg 3–0 0–0 3–0
Third Qualifying Round Greece AEK Athens 1–2 0–3 1–5
2006–07 UEFA Cup First Round Czech Republic Sparta Prague 0–2 0–0 0–2
2009–10 UEFA Europa League Play–Off Round Croatia Dinamo Zagreb 0–4 2–0 2–4
2011–12 UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round Hungary Paks 1–1 4–1 5–2
Play–Off Round England Tottenham Hotspur 0–5 0–0 0–5
2012–13 UEFA Europa League Play–Off Round England Liverpool 0–1 1–1 1–2

By Competition

Competition Pld W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Champions League 4 1 1 2 4 5 −1
European Cup 4 1 0 3 4 11 −7
UEFA Europa League 8 2 3 3 8 13 −5
UEFA Cup 38 17 6 15 46 44 +2
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 6 2 3 1 8 3 +5
European Cup Winners' Cup 4 1 0 3 8 11 −3
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 12 4 4 4 20 20 0
Total 76 28 17 31 98 107 −9

Notes

  1. ↑ Benfica in the 1960–61 European Cup and Hamburg in the 1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup.
  2. ↑ Real Zaragoza in the 1965–66 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup and Real Mallorca in the 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
  3. ↑ While other Scottish clubs like Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen and Dundee United enjoyed success in Europe during parts of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, Hearts were going through arguably the most turbulent period in their history. They made only a single appearance in European competition between 1967 and 1983, in the 1976–77 European Cup Winners' Cup.
  4. ↑ Hearts lost the deciding play–off match 2–3(a.e.t.).
  5. ↑ Hearts lost the deciding play–off match 0–1.
  6. ↑ Hearts went out due to the away goals rule.
  7. ↑ Hearts went out due to the away goals rule.
  8. ↑ Hearts went out due to the away goals rule.

References