Tottenham and Hearts will go head-to-head for a place in this season’s Europa League after being drawn together in the play-offs.
Harry Redknapp’s men, in the competition after a successful foray into the Champions League last season, qualified for the play-offs automatically and will travel to Edinburgh on August 18, with the return leg at White Hart Lane a week later.
Hearts, who booked their place in the play-offs with a 4-1 win over PAKS on Thursday night, are now under the management of Paulo Sergio, who took the job earlier this week following the shock exit of Jim Jefferies.
It will be the first ever competitive meeting between the two sides and, in drawing each other, they avoided tricky-looking ties against the likes of Spartak Moscow and Trabzonspor.
Fulham’s reward for getting past RNK Split with a comfortable 2-0 home win last night is a clash against Ukrainian outfit Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Martin Jol’s side, who have been in action in the competition since qualifying started at the end of June, will play the first leg at the Dnipro Arena, before returning to Craven Cottage.
Scottish champions Rangers will look to put their Champions League disappointment behind them against Slovenian side Maribor while Celtic will need to get the better of Swiss side FC Sion.
Stoke are also facing a trip to Switzerland after being paired with FC Thun, with the first leg at Arena Thun. Tony Pulis’ men, making their first appearance in Europe after reaching the FA Cup final last season, while Thun finished fifth and are coached by the veteran Swiss Bernard Challandes.
Carling Cup winners Birmingham, who will compete despite their relegation to the Championship, will juggle their second-tier slog with a clash against Portuguese club Nacional.
They finished sixth in the Portuguese Liga last season, while Birmingham, who will head to Portugal for the first leg, have endured a summer of turbulence, with manager Alex McLeish and a number of key players moving on.
Meanwhile, Irish side Shamrock Rovers were given a tough assignment after being drawn out against Partizan Belgrade, with the first game due to be played at the Tallaght Stadium.