Sturm Graz vs Hearts: Bet £20 with SBK and get £50 in free bets

Hearts are in Champions League action tonight for the first time in 20 years as they travel to Austria to take on Sturm Graz for the first leg of their second qualifying round clash.

The Edinburgh side, who finished second in the Scottish Premiership last season despite leading for almost the entirety of the campaign, travel to the Merkur Arena in the second largest city in Austria, looking to earn a positive result for their return leg at home next week.

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Hearts’ competitive season kicks off tonight with a huge match against last season’s second placed finishers in Austria in the Scottish side’s first Champions League match since 2006.

The Jam Tarts are back in the big time having come within a whisker of winning a first Scottish league title in 66 years last season, leading the Premiership for the majority of the campaign before being pipped to the title on the very last day by Celtic.

Tonight’s match in Austria will also be the first competitive match under the new management of Wouter Vrancken, the Belgian having joined from Sint Truiden in his home country last season, following the departure Derek McInnes to Rangers in the off season.

The Edinburgh side didn’t qualify for Europe at all last season, but did compete in the group stage of the Conference League the year before, and tonight will see them compete in the Champions League for the first time since losing to AEK Athens in the third qualifying round of the 2006-07 campaign.

Despite having also entered the qualifying/preliminary rounds of the competition back in the 1960s, Hearts have never before qualified for the competition proper of Europe’s premier club tournament.

Sturm Graz are much more established on the European scene than their Scottish opponents tonight, having reached the group stage of the Europa League in four of the last five seasons, and even qualified for the Champions League league phase a couple of seasons ago for the first time in 24 years.

Fabio Ingolitsch’s side, like their opponents tonight, led their domestic league for a large chunk of the season last year, and were top of the table with just four matches remaining but the two-time defending Austrian could only manage a second place finish in the end after missing out to LASK on the final day.

Nicknamed The Schwoazn, tonight will also be Sturm Graz’s first competitive match of the season, and the winner of the tie over two legs will progress to the third and penultimate qualifying round against either Fenerbahce or Gornik Zabrze, while the loser will be transferred into the Europa League’s third qualifying round, and will play either Benfica or St Gallen.

Tonight will be just the second time Hearts have played a competitive match in Austria, and the first since taking on Austria Vienna in the second round of the UEFA Cup in 1988, when Mike Galloway scored the only goal of the game to win 1-0 on aggregate en route to the quarter finals of the competition, before being knocked out by Bayern Munich,

Don’t forget to make use of talkSPORT’s EXCLUSIVE sign up offer with SBK, where new customer can get £50 in free bets when they bet £20 on the new season.

How to watch Sturm Graz vs Hearts

• Location: Merkur Arena, Graz, Austria
• Date and time: Tuesday 21st July 2026, 7:30pm
• How to watch: Premier Sports 1

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*New UK customers. Min £10 first deposit. Sign up through the Betting Hub app and place a £10 bet at min odds of 2.0 to receive £50 in Free Bets within 48 hours. Restrictions apply. Full T&Cs apply. 18+. BeGambleAware.org