Title holders SC Magdeburg will travel to Slovenia and face RK Gorenje Velenje on Tuesday 19 October in their first match of the EHF European League Men group phase, 150 days after the German side lifted the trophy at the inaugural EHF Finals last May.

Velenje against Magdeburg is one of several appealing ties on the opening night of the 2021/22 group phase.

Elsewhere, 2020/21 finalists Füchse Berlin will host Fenix Toulouse, last season’s EHF FINAL4 participants HBC Nantes have a trip up north to Cocks, EHF European Cup champions AEK Athens host Grundfos Tatabánya KC, and Sporting CP take on Kadetten Schaffhausen in a match featuring two teams that regularly played in the EHF Champions League in recent years.

The EHF has released the playing schedule for the first six rounds of the group phase, from 19 October until 7 December 2021. All matches are scheduled on Tuesday evenings, with the throw-off time either 18:45 or 20:45 CE(S)T.

The schedule can be downloaded here.

The group phase consists of four groups with six teams. The top four from each group will advance to the knock-out phase, starting with the Last 16 in March 2022.