Edinburgh Sport News: Hearts, Hibs & Local Clubs This Week

Heart of Midlothian's 2-1 pre-season victory over Dundee United at Tynecastle Park on Tuesday evening did exactly what the club's coaching staff needed it to do — settled nerves after a fixture-list leak revealed three brutal Scottish Premiership openers when the season kicks off on August 1. The win, played in front of a ticketed crowd of just over 7,400, gave new summer signing Tomás Vedral his first competitive minutes in a Maroon shirt, and the Czech midfielder did not disappoint, setting up the opener on 34 minutes with a precise through-ball that split United's backline.

The result matters because Robbie Neilson's squad has spent most of the past three weeks in question after the club confirmed it missed out on a second target in the summer transfer window — a €1.8 million bid for a Norwegian winger rejected by Brann Bergen. Edinburgh's football community will take Tuesday's confidence-builder, even if it was only a friendly.

Across the city, Hibernian wrapped up their pre-season camp at the Oriam National Performance Centre on Heriot-Watt University's Riccarton Campus and returned to Easter Road for a closed-door run-out on Wednesday. The session, confirmed by the club on its official channels, was the last before their first public pre-season outing — a match against Livingston scheduled for Saturday, July 5, at the Tony Macaroni Arena. Head coach David Gray has been cautious about expectations, but club sources indicate a 4-3-3 shape is being refined following four weeks of tactical work at Oriam.

Murrayfield and Beyond: Rugby and Track Make Their Mark

Edinburgh Rugby gave supporters something tangible on Thursday, confirming that 2025-26 United Rugby Championship final appearances have translated into commercial terms: the club announced a three-year extension of its primary shirt sponsorship deal, understood to be worth roughly £2.1 million over the period. The deal keeps Edinburgh's corporate identity stable heading into a campaign that opens at the DAM Health Stadium on September 13 against Leinster — a fixture already 94 percent sold out as of July 2.

Meanwhile, Meadowbank — still undergoing its long-delayed £60 million redevelopment on London Road — saw its athletics community gather at Grangemouth's stadium for the East District Athletics Championships last weekend, the latest in a string of stopgap competitions forced on Edinburgh-based clubs while the home facility remains under construction. Edinburgh Athletic Club athletes claimed seven gold medals across track and field events on June 29. The club's under-20 women's 400m runner, competing in her first senior championship, finished in 54.3 seconds — the fastest time recorded by a Scottish under-20 woman this calendar year.

Cramond Boat Club on the Firth of Forth hosted the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association's mid-season sprint event on Saturday, June 28. Nineteen clubs entered, including two Edinburgh-based crews from the Water of Leith Rowing Club. One of those crews — the mixed masters four — won their heat and placed second in the final by a margin of four seconds, the club's best result at a national sprint event since 2022.

What to Watch in the Coming Days

The coming weekend is the fullest in Edinburgh sport since May. Hibernian's trip to Livingston on Saturday is the obvious headliner, but Hearts have scheduled an open training session at Tynecastle for 10am on Sunday, July 6 — free entry for supporters, no ticket required. Edinburgh Rugby's pre-season schedule firms up next week, with a fixture against Glasgow Warriors expected to be announced for late July at a neutral venue in the Borders.

For those tracking the Meadowbank saga, City of Edinburgh Council's Infrastructure Committee meets on July 8 to receive an updated contractor report. Delays linked to supply-chain costs have already pushed the original 2024 completion date back twice. Local athletics administrators will be watching closely — the Scottish Indoor Championships, tentatively scheduled for the new facility in February 2027, remain officially listed as a target date but increasingly look optimistic.

Edinburgh's sport schedule shows no sign of slowing before the heatwave conditions forecast to reach central Scotland by the weekend. Coaches and club secretaries have already started contacting Sports Edinburgh about pitch welfare protocols at Saughton and Meggetland — two sites where grass quality becomes a concern once temperatures push past 28 degrees Celsius for consecutive days.