Veteran Olympians Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst of Austria will face off against Italian debutants Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri on Copacabana beach on the morning of Saturday (6 August) in the very first match of the Rio 2016 beach volleyball tournament.

The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) published the mouth-watering schedule for the eagerly awaited competition on Friday (15 July). 

Tickets are still available for what is shaping up to be the most spectacular beach volleyball competition in history, on the world's most famous beach.

Buy tickets for Rio 2016 beach volleyball here

This image from 4 July shows the Beach Volleyball Arena, a temporary venue, taking shape in Copacabana (Photo: Getty Images/ Matthew Stockman)

Men’s and women’s matches will be mixed throughout the six-day group stage of the tournament. There will be three sessions each day, with the last match on the first five days of group play starting under the floodlights at midnight in Copacabana.

Hometown heroes

After the Italians and Austrians complete the opening match, reigning world champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt from Brazil will take to the sand to send the home crowd into a frenzy. The top-ranked duo will face a team from Canada that is still to be identified – a play-off in Canada this Saturday will decide which pairing goes to Rio.

 Bruno Schmidt (l) and Alison Cerutti celebrate their world championship gold medal in 2015 (Photo: Getty Images/Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno)

Other world champions playing on the opening day of beach volleyball competition in Rio include the reigning queens of beach volleyball from Brazil, Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas.

The full schedule for the group stage of Rio 2016 beach volleyball tournament

Rounding off the first day will be the first “Midnight Magic” match, when Olympic legends April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the USA will be challenged by Austrian duo Mariafe Artacho and Nicole Laird. 

Partnering Missy May-Treanor, Walsh Jennings won an unprecedented three consecutive Olympic gold medals at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. With Jen Kessy, April Ross won the silver medal in London. Walsh Jennings will enter Rio on an incredible 21-match winning streak, as she and May-Treanor dropped only one set in three Olympic Games.

Popular Brazilian stars Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca, the top seeds in Rio, will open the second day's play on the morning of 7 August. Both Talita and Larissa will be competing in their third Olympic Games. Larissa claimed the bronze medal at London 2012.

 Talita (l) and Larissa (r) are strong contenders for a home country medal in Rio (Photo:  Getty Images/Robert Laberge)

The top two men’s and women’s teams from each of the six pools will advance directly to the knock-out matches along with the top two third-placed teams. The last four third-placed teams will play off for the last two berths.

The final pool “Midnight Magic” match will be a “lucky loser” contest on 11 August which will determine the last remaining spot in the round of 16.

Knock-out round

The round-of-16 matches will take place on 12 and 13 August. The women's quarter-finals will follow on 14 August and the men's on 15 August. After the semi-finals on 16 August, the medal matches will take place on 17 August for women and 18 August for men. 

In Rio, a total of 96 players from 24 countries will form 48 men’s and women teams in the sixth edition of the Olympic beach volleyball competition.

The match schedule for Rio 2016 will be updated next week, following the play-off in Canada on Saturday which will decide which Canadian pairing goes to Rio.