PDC world champion Gerwyn Price will be in action on the opening day of the 2021 Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton on Saturday.

Price, who won the event in 2018 and 2019, is one of four former champions battling for the £550,000 in prize money and the Eric Bristow Trophy at the Aldersley Leisure Village.

With the 32 players split into eight groups of four for the first-round stage, the round-robin action begins with a double session on Saturday.

Groups A-D will be in action during the afternoon session, which is headlined by Markham’s Price against Northern Ireland's Nathan Rafferty in their opening Group A tie.

Premier League and World Grand Prix champion Jonny Clayton, who hails from Llanelli, plays Rusty-Jake Rodriguez in their Group B opener after the Austrian topped the PDC Unicorn European Development Tour rankings to secure his qualification.

UK Open champion James Wade, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, will meet Jim Williams in their Group C opener before European Championship winner Rob Cross meets Boris Krcmar.

Saturday afternoon's action also sees former World Matchplay champion Dimitri Van den Bergh and reigning World Youth Champion Bradley Brooks in action.

The evening session sees Groups E-H commence their challenge for the title, with De Sousa up against Matt Campbell in Group F.

The night is headlined by clashes between Michael van Gerwen and Lisa Ashton and Peter Wright's meeting with Fallon Sherrock as the two PDC Women's Series qualifiers take on two superstars of the sport.

Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld also makes his Grand Slam of Darts return in Saturday's final game, as he faces Michael Smith.

Sunday's second group matches will see Saturday's winning players face each other and the losing players also meet, before the final group matches are held on Monday and Tuesday.

The top two players from each group will progress to the knockout stage of the event, with the last 16 action beginning next Wednesday and running through to the semi-finals and final on Sunday, November 21.

Tickets for the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts can be purchased through ticketmaster.co.uk