Heart of Midlothian will make the more than 8,000km round trip to play Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan next month in their Conference League opener.

Last week's draw pitted Steven Naismith's side against six opponents in the newly formatted league phase of the competition. There will be home games against Omonia Nicosia, Heidenheim and Petrocub, plus away matches at Copenhagen, Cercle Brugge and Dinamo Minsk.

It is the latter fixture that is up first on Thursday, October 3, and the one that will be played in Azerbaijan. Due to the war in Ukraine, the Belarussians are not allowed to play at home.

"The UEFA Executive Committee met today and decided that all Belarusian clubs and national teams competing in UEFA competitions will be required to play their home matches at neutral venues with immediate effect," read a UEFA statement in April. "Furthermore, no spectators shall attend matches in which the teams from Belarus feature as host.

"The UEFA Executive Committee will convene further extraordinary meetings, on a regular ongoing basis where required, to reassess the legal and factual situation as it evolves and adopt further decisions as necessary."

Dinamo Minsk had played all of their qualifying matches in Hungary. Yet, the league phase home fixtures will now be played at the Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium in Sumqayit, over an hour's drive from Baku.

Hearts Standard reached out to UEFA for an explanation of why all of Dinamo Minsk's games are continued to be played behind closed doors and why their fixtures have been moved to Azerbaijan.

"We can only refer you to the decision taken by the UEFA Executive Committee and have no further comment," was the response to the games taking place behind closed doors.

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As for the switch from Hungary to Azerbaijan.

A UEFA spokesperson said: "Please note that Hungary is not the only neutral venue option for Belarussian teams."

However, Hearts Standard has learned the Varosi Stadion in Mezokovesd, Hungary, which was used in qualifying is only a Category 3 stadium. All grounds need to be at least Category 4 in the league phase of the Conference League.

The Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium in Sumqayit fits the criteria, plus it is available for the three matchdays required and doesn't have any stadium or city clashes.