Tottenham Hotspur to play Hearts in all-British Europa League play-off

Tottenham Hotspur have been drawn against the Scottish club Hearts in the Europa League play-off round. The Spurs manager, Harry Redknapp, has said that he is not a fan of Europe's second-tier competition, as he feels it is impossible to combine it with competing in the Premier League. He will be relieved at the draw, however, as the tie will not only seem winnable for the second string he says will be fielded in the Europa League this season; it also does not involve a trip to eastern Europe. Redknapp is conscious that following the Premier League season opener at home to Everton, just four days after the trip to Edinburgh, Spurs will have to travel to Old Trafford to face the Premier League champions, Manchester United. Fulham will be packing their passports for the play-offs – Martin Jol's side will go to Ukraine for an encounter with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Birmingham City, now managed by Chris Hughton following Alex McLeish's departure for Aston Villa, begin with an away game at Nacional of Portugal on the island of Madeira. Tony Pulis will fancy Stoke City's prospects of progressing further after his club drew Thun, meeting the Swiss side away first. Neil Lennon's Celtic have a trip to Sion of Switzerland while Rangers, who were knocked out of the Champions League this week, face Maribor of Slovenia. Ally McCoist is already under pressure as Rangers manager; he will hope for a run in the group stage, which begins on 15 September. The play-off fixtures will be contested on 18 and 25 August. Europa League play-off draw Maccabi Tel Aviv v Panathinaikos Atlético Madrid v Vitoria SC Shamrock Rovers v Partizan Belgrade Metalist v Sochaux Besiktas v Alania Rosenborg v AEK Larnaca Vorskia v Dinamo Bucharest Bursaspor v Anderlecht Roma v Slovan Bratislava Olympiacos Volou v Paris St-Germain Legia Warsaw v Spartak Moscow Ekranas v Hapoel Tel Aviv PAOK v Karpaty Trabzonspor v Athletic Bilbao Hearts v Tottenham Hotspur Maribor v Rangers Steaua Bucharest v CSKA Sofia Nordsjaelland v Sporting Lisbon Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk v Fulham Locomotiv Moscow v Spartak Trnava Sion v Celtic Slask v Rapid Bucharest Litex v Dynamo Kiev Lazio v Rabotnicki Nacional v Birmingham City PSV Eindhoven v Ried Thun v Stoke City Aalesund v AZ Alkmaar Vaslui v Sparta Prague Omonia v Salzburg Zestafoni v Club Brugge Hannover v Sevilla HJK v Schalke Dynamo Tbilisi v AEK Athens Rennes v Crvena Zvezda Gaz Metan v Austria Vienna SC Braga v Young Boys Standard v Helsingborg