Heart of Midlothian F.C. in European football

Heart of Midlothian F.C. in European football

Steven Pressley, who holds the appearance record for Hearts in European matches
Club	Heart of Midlothian F.C.
Seasons played	24
First entry	1958–59 European Cup
Latest entry	2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
Titles
Champions League	0 (Best: Preliminary rounds)
Europa League	0 (Best: Quarter-final)
Cup Winners' Cup	0 (Best: Second round)
Europa Conference League	0 (Best: Group stage)

Heart of Midlothian F.C. played their first official match in competitive European football on 3 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 and Henry Smith jointly hold the record for playing in the most European matches for Hearts with 22 appearances each, and John Robertson is the club's top scorer with seven goals.

Note: In all cases the Hearts score is listed first.^[1]

List of Hearts games in European competitions
Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Other	Agg.	[a]	Notes
1958–59	European Cup	PR	Standard Liège	2–1	1–5	—	3–6		—
1960–61	European Cup	PR	Benfica	1–2	0–3		1–5
1961–62	Fairs Cup	R1	Union Saint–Gilloise	2–0	3–1		5–1
		R2	Inter Milan	0–1	0–4		0–5
1963–64	Fairs Cup	R1	Lausanne–Sport	2–2	2–2	2–3	6–7		Playoff
1965–66	Fairs Cup	R2	Vålerenga	1–0	3–1	—	4–1		—
		R3	Real Zaragoza	3–3	2–2	0–1	5–6		Playoff
1976–77	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Lokomotive Leipzig	5–1	0–2	—	5–3		—
		R2	Hamburg	1–4	2–4		3–8
1984–85	UEFA Cup	R1	Paris Saint–Germain	2–2	0–4		2–6
1986–87	UEFA Cup	R1	Dukla Prague	3–2	0–1		3–3		Away goals
1988–89	UEFA Cup	R1	St. Patrick's Athletic	2–0	2–0		4–0		—
		R2	Austria Vienna	0–0	1–0		1–0
		R3	Velež Mostar	3–0	1–2		4–2
		QF	Bayern Munich	1–0	0–2		1–2
1990–91	UEFA Cup	R1	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	3–1	1–1		4–2
		R2	Bologna	3–1	0–3		3–4
1992–93	UEFA Cup	R1	Slavia Prague	4–2	0–1		4–3
		R2	Standard Liège	0–1	0–1		0–2
1993–94	UEFA Cup	R1	Atlético Madrid	2–1	0–3		2–4
1996–97	Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Red Star Belgrade	1–1	0–0		1–1		Away goals
1998–99	Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Lantana Tallinn	5–0	1–0		6–0		—
		R1	Real Mallorca	0–1	1–1		1–2
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR	ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar	3–0	2–0		5–0
		R1	Stuttgart	3–2	0–1		3–3		Away goals
2003–04	UEFA Cup	R1	Zeljeznicar	2–0	0–0		2–0		—
		R2	Bordeaux	0–2	1–0		1–2
2004–05	UEFA Cup	R1	Braga	3–1	2–2		5–3
		Group A	Feyenoord	—	0–3		5th
			Schalke 04	0–1	—
			Basel	—	2–1
			Ferencváros	0–1	—
2006–07	Champions League	QR2	Široki Brijeg	3–0	0–0		3–0
		QR3	AEK Athens	1–2	0–3		1–5
	UEFA Cup	R1	Sparta Prague	0–2	0–0		0–2
2009–10	Europa League	PO	Dinamo Zagreb	2–0	0–4		2–4
2011–12	Europa League	QR3	Paks	4–1	1–1		5–2
		PO	Tottenham Hotspur	0–5	0–0		0–5
2012–13	Europa League	PO	Liverpool	0–1	1–1		1–2
2016–17	Europa League	QR1	Infonet Tallinn	2–1	4–2		6–3
		QR2	Birkirkara	1–2	0–0		1–2
2022–23	Europa League	PO	Zürich	0–1	1–2		1–3
	Europa Conference League	Group A	Fiorentina	0–3	1–5		3rd
			İstanbul Başakşehir	0–4	1–3
			RFS	2–1	2–0
2023–24	Europa Conference League	QR3	Rosenborg	3–1	1–2		4–3
		PO	PAOK	1–2	0–4		1–6
2024–25	Europa League	PO	Viktoria Plzeň	0–1	0–1		0–2
	Europa Conference League	League Phase	Dinamo Minsk	—	2–1
			Omonoia	2–0	—
			Heidenheim	0–2	—
			Cercle Brugge	—
			Copenhagen	—
			Petroclub		—

Most Appearances [edit] Rank Player Career Apps 1 Craig Gordon 2001–2007 2020–Current 27 2 Henry Smith 1981–1996 22 Steven Pressley 1998–2006 22 4 Gary Mackay 1980–1997 21 5 John Colquhoun 1985–1991 1993–1997 18 6 Robbie Neilson 1999–2009 16 John Cumming 1950–1967 16 8 Dave McPherson 1987–1992 1994–1999 15 John Robertson 1981–1988 1988–1998 15 Craig Levein 1983–1997 15 Eamonn Bannon 1976–1979 1988–1993 15 Lawrence Shankland 2022– 15 Top Goalscorers [edit] Rank Player Career Goals 1 John Robertson 1981–1988 1988–1998 7 2 Lawrence Shankland 2022– 6 3 Mike Galloway 1987–1989 5 Willie Wallace 1961–1966 5 5 Mark de Vries 2002–2005 4 Wayne Foster 1986–1994 4