Scotland's Hearts paired with Sturm Graz in Champions League qualifying. Fenerbahce gets Gornik

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NYON, Switzerland (AP) — After a devastating final-game loss in the Scottish Premiership, Heart of Midlothian’s longer path toward the lucrative Champions League will start in Austria in July.

Hearts was paired with Sturm Graz in the draw Wednesday for the second qualifying round, needing to advance through three rounds to play in the 36-team league phase starting in September.

Scottish champion Celtic, which beat long-time leader Hearts in the final game last month, will start in the qualifying playoffs round in late-August.

Fenerbahce will play Gornik Zabrze in the other pairing of teams that finished runner-up in mid-ranked leagues.

First-leg games start two days after the World Cup final, and are played July 21 and 22. Return games are one week later.

Since losing the title race, Hearts has seen star forward Lawrence Shankland — now on World Cup duty with Scotland — join Rangers. The storied Glasgow club also is set to hire coach Derek McInnes away from Hearts, just five weeks before it begins a Champions League qualifying program.

Opponents in the third qualifying round could be Bodo/Glimt, Lyon or Union Saint-Gilloise.

Two first-time national champions entered in a separate second qualifying round draw Wednesday for domestic title holders, and received very different results.

Swiss champion Thun got a tough draw playing at home first against Champions League regular Dinamo Zagreb.

Mjällby of Sweden also is at home first, against Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar or Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra. They meet in the first qualifying round over two legs in early July.

Thun and Mjällby were unseeded in the draw and sure to face a seeded team, which could have been Dinamo, former European champion Red Star Belgrade or Lincoln, which has a higher UEFA ranking after playing in last season's third-tier Conference League.

Red Star, the 1991 European Cup winner, was drawn to play the away leg first against Tre Fiori of San Marino or Northern Ireland’s Larne.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer