Weiss has opted to coach his country instead of Hearts

Hearts managerial candidate Vladimir Weiss has decided to accept the job as coach of Slovakia.

The former Artmedia Bratislava boss had held talks with the Edinburgh club about filling their managerial vacancy.

However, Weiss indicated he wished to await the outcome of discussions with his country's FA before committing to taking the reins at Tynecastle.

And the former international will sign a contract with the Slovakian federation next week.

His first game will be at home against Northern Ireland in the World Cup qualifiers in September.

Lothar Matthaus and Jacques Santini are the latest names to be linked with the Hearts job, open since the start of 2008.

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Weiss confirmed to BBC Scotland earlier this month that he planned to hold further talks with Hearts about becoming their next manager.

But he emerged as favourite to land the Slovakia job after their football federation announced that Jan Kocian's contract was to end on 30 June.

Now former France manager Santini and former German international Matthaus have emerged as possible candidates for the Hearts job. Hearts announced in January that they were on the lookout for a new manager.

Stephen Frail took charge of the team for most of last season after Anatoly Korobochka returned to his role as director of football.

However, Frail is expected to sever his ties with the club after he was told to stay away from pre-season preparations.

The Tynecastle club had originally hoped to bring in Mark McGhee as their new manager, but he decided to remain with Motherwell.