From the EPCR website:

The Road to Marseille will become clearer on Friday, when the fixtures for the 2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup are released.

At 10:00 BST the 20 teams in Europe’s elite club competition will discover the first stage of their path to glory as they try to navigate their way through the pool matches in the build-up to the showpiece final at the Stade de Marseille on European Finals Weekend in May.

The Heineken Champions Cup action starts on November 15, with the opening round of pool games, and Round 2 follows a week later.

Rounds 3 and 4 – the often crucial back-to-back matches – will take place on the weekends of December 6 and 13, before the pool stage is concluded in the second and third weekends of January 2020.

The Stade de Marseille will host the Challenge Cup final on Friday, May 22 and the Heineken Champions Cup final on Saturday, May 23.

For more details and how to buy tickets for 2020 European Finals Weekend, click HERE.

2019/20 Heineken Champions Cup pools 

Pool 1: Leinster Rugby, Lyon, Northampton Saints, Benetton Rugby
Pool 2: Exeter Chiefs, Glasgow Warriors, La Rochelle, Sale Sharks
Pool 3: ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ulster Rugby, Harlequins, Bath Rugby
Pool 4: Saracens, Munster Rugby, Racing 92, Ospreys
Pool 5: Toulouse, Gloucester Rugby, Connacht Rugby, Montpellier

EPCR weekends – 2019/20 season

Round 1: 15/16/17 November 2019
Round 2: 22/23/24 November 2019
Round 3: 6/7/8 December 2019
Round 4: 13/14/15 December 2019
Round 5: 10/11/12 January 2020
Round 6: 17/18/19 January 2020
Quarter-finals: 3/4/5 April 2020
Semi-finals: 1/2/3 May 2020

2020 finals – Stade de Marseille
Challenge Cup final – Friday 22 May
Heineken Champions Cup final – Saturday 23 May

SiB -

The back to backs are normally in December and the message above suggests that will not change.

Do you know something we don’t about the January fixtures?

Either way, guess we’ll find out tomorrow!

Anyone know when tickets would be on sale for the away game in Clermont, likely cost and whether you'd need to be a season ticket holder or member to purchase?

Booked up or Clermonnt. Some decent flights and accommodation available

Yes have booked LHR to Lyon out Friday and back Sunday and hotel in the centre - decent prices

You driving or training from Lyon? When I looked the trains all went via Paris.

Why is Belfast so expensive at that time of year? Nothing decent under 110/120a night without breakfast!

Not that I can go this time, but I did go over the last time we visited Ulster at the same time of year.

I recall accommodation being a challenge, and surprised at how expensive it was. May just be a shortage of hotels in the city. I dunno - thought it was strange at the time.

Booked flights from Southampton to Belfast on Flybe. Going out Saturday morning for £60, very reasonable I thought.
Not booked hotel yet. Hope it's a better experience than my last visit the time before last when the weather was so bad one stand nearly blew down and was evacuated and the players were so cold at the end they were wrapped up in foil. The Guinness was good though.

Easy drive from Lyon to Clermont, takes a couple of hours I seem to recall. Found the return journey a bit more confusing as the airport is on the east side of the city and the sign posting wasn`t as good as it might have been. Found a hotel a few hundred metres from the stadium, will try to dig out the name.