CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES 2021-22: West Brom open with trip to play Bournemouth

Derby County will welcome Huddersfield Town on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 Sky Bet Championship season - but the Rams are still sweating on their place in the division.

Derby received a £100,000 fine over some of their accounting policies on Wednesday but the EFL retain the option to appeal that verdict by an independent panel and could push for a points deduction to be applied to last season.

Wayne Rooney's side only survived on the final day of the season and finished just one point ahead of Wycombe, so the Chairboys could yet play Championship football next season.

The EFL said their fixture list is interchangeable so Wycombe would simply replace Derby if the points deduction was put into place and they were sent into League One.

Meanwhile, West Bromwich Albion face a trip to Bournemouth on the opening weekend of the 2021-22 Sky Bet Championship season as Fulham host Middlesbrough and Sheffield United welcome Birmingham City.

The trio will be aiming to bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and can now plot their way through the campaign as the season's fixtures are released.

Other first weekend highlights include Blackburn Rovers hosting last season's beaten play-off finalists Swansea City, while there's a London derby between Queens Park Rangers and Millwall.

League One champions Hull City face a trip to Deepdale to play Preston North End while fellow promoted teams Peterborough United and Blackpool face trips to Luton Town and Bristol City respectively.

The opening set of games will be played over the weekend of August 7/8 with the regular season concluding on May 7.

Sheffield United, who finished bottom of the Premier League last season with only 23 points, follow up their opener with tough trips to Swansea and West Brom in August.

Fulham, hoping for another Championship promotion campaign, follow up their opener with a visit to Huddersfield and a midweek trip across London to Millwall.

The final afternoon of the season will see Sheffield United host Fulham at Bramall Lane in what could be a promotion decider.

Hull's return to the second tier sees them host QPR and then Derby County following their opening weekend trip to Preston.

Peterborough, meanwhile, back in the Championship after eight seasons away, host Derby in their second game then have another home fixture against Cardiff City.

Blackpool follow up their trip to Ashton Gate with home matches against Cardiff and Coventry City.