Ulster will start their Heineken Cup Pool Four campaign at home to Italian club Aironi on Friday, 8 October.

The match will take place on the same evening as Northern Ireland's European Football Championship qualifier against Italy at Windsor Park.

Brian McLaughlin's Ulster then travel to last season's runners-up Biarritz for their next game on 17 October.

That is followed by back-to-back meetings with Bath whom they also faced in last season's competition.

The first match against Bath will be played at Ravenhill on Saturday, 11 December with the return fixture at The Rec ground in Bath a week later.

Ulster's opener against Aironi has a 1930 BST start tbut the kick-off time for Northern Ireland's clash with Italy has yet to be confirmed.

Ulster Rugby's operations manager David Humphreys said that pre-season training, which is in its fifth week, has been going "really well".

"The announcement of the fixtures heightens the sense of anticipation of competing in Europe's premier tournament once again," added Humphreys.

Opening fixtures:

Friday, 8 October
P1: Northampton Saints v Castres Olympique
P4: Ulster v Aironi
P6: Glasgow v Newport Gwent Dragons

Saturday, 9 October
P1: Cardiff Blues v Edinburgh
P2: Leicester v Racing-Metro 92
P2: Clermont Auvergne v Saracens
P3: Toulon v Ospreys
P3: London Irish v Munster
P5: Benetton Treviso v Leicester Tigers
P5: Scarlets v Perpignan

Sunday, 10 October
P4: Bath v Biarritz Olympique
P6: Toulouse v London Wasps

See the first set of Heineken Cup 2010/11 fixtures

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