It is the 18th-consecutive season that action will take place at the Eisbahn Areal in the Swiss Alps village, which also serves as the third Major Series event of the campaign.

Gstaad's first World Tour event was a women’s only tournament in 2000 where Brazilians Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede won the inaugural gold medals.

Men’s play was added to the competition in 2001 with Stein Metzger and Kevin Wong of the United States emerging victorious.

Three women's pairs from the host nation are already through to the main draw.

Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli, Joana Heidrich and partner Anouk Vergé-Dépré and the pairing of Laura Caluori and Elena Steinemann will contest the pool stages.

Betschart and Hüberli arrive in good form following their bronze medal at last week's event in the Croatian town of Poreč.

Gustavo "Guto" Carvalhaes and Pedro Solberg became the second men’s team in the 30-season history of the FIVB Beach World Tour to win an event after starting the competition in the country quota rounds in Poreč.

The Brazilians will line-up once again in Gstaad.

Brazil has dominated this event in recent years, winning gold medal in the men's and women's events in both of the last two years.

Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca have won both of the previous two women’s titles.

The men's pairs of Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt won in 2015 with compatriots Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Solberg topping the podium 12 months ago.

Action is due to begin tomorrow where eight men’s and women’s teams will advance from the qualifying round to the main draw pool stages, which commence on Wednesday (July 5).

The Gstaad event will be one of the final events on the World Tour calendar prior to the 2017 FIVB World Championships, which are due to be played between July 28 and August 6 in Vienna.