Rosenborg BK: Who are Hearts Europa opponents? Key players, stadium capacity and cost of flights

Hearts have discovered their UEFA Europa Conference League third round opponents after Rosenborg BK overcame Crusaders of Northern Ireland.

There was little to separate the two clubs and the Norwegians needed extra time in the home leg to win the tie 5-4 on aggregate and book their trip to Edinburgh. Jambos fans will already be planning their trip to Scandinavia and here is everything you need to know about their opponents including the club’s history, the stadium capacity plus how to get there and how much it will cost:

Rosenborg BK history and European participation

Rosenborg Ballklub is the most successful football club in Norwegian football with a record 26 league titles and a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup titles. Nicknamed ‘Troillongan’ (which translates as ‘The Troll Children’), the club was founded in 1917 as Sportsklubben Odd.

Notable current players include captain and former Hull City defender Markus Henriksen, who has been capped 58 times for Norway, as well as veteran midfielder Per Ciljan Skjelbred and a host of other Scandinavian international players.

Scottish football fans will be familiar with the club with Hearts set to become the fourth Scottish club to face off against them in European competition. They first took on Celtic in the 1972/72 European Cup and then faced Hibs two years later in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup.

More recently they have come up against St Johnstone in the 2013/14 Europa League qualifiers and have faced the Hoops multiple other times with their last meeting being in 2018 when they faced off in both the Champions League qualifiers and then the Europa League group stages.

Where do Rosenborg BK play? Stadium location and capacity

Rosenborg play at the Lerkendal Stadion in Trondheim which has a capacity of 21,405 spectators. It was first opened in 1947 and underwent major redevelopments in 2002.

The city of Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway and lies at the mouth of the River Nidelva. From the capital city of Oslo, Trondheim is around 500km to the north.

How to get there

Hearts supporters will have two realistic options to get to the match, either a flight to Oslo and train journey to Trondheim or a flight from Edinburgh to Trondheim with a layover. There are no direct flights from Edinburgh to Trondheim.

As of the morning of Thursday, August 4, flights were showing at between £650 and £750 return. Return flights just to Oslo were considerably cheaper, working out around £350 and from there it is a seven hour train journey to Trondheim so travelling fans would need to arrive early in the day.

Hearts v Rosenborg fixture dates and play-off round draw

The first leg of the match will be played in Norway next Thursday, August 10 and the second leg at Tynecastle one week later on Thursday, August 17. Kick off times have not yet been confirmed for either match.

The draw for the play-off round of the UEFA Europa Conference League is due to be made on Monday, August 7 so both clubs will have an idea of what awaits them in the next round should they get through this tie. The play-off round is the final round of qualifiers before the group stages.