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.

The club has an unfortunate record of having never progressed through a tie which has finished level on aggregate after two legs.

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.