YORK City Knights will have a realistic chance of playing at Wembley Stadium next year after the Rugby Football League introduced a new knockout cup competition.

The 1895 Cup will be solely for Championship and League One clubs, with the final taking place at Wembley on the same day as the Challenge Cup final.

The RFL have also announced that after next year, when the Challenge Cup final will take its usual August Bank Holiday weekend slot – taking place on Saturday, August 24 – the showcase event will move forward to July from 2020 onwards. That is part of a new agreement with Wembley which runs until 2027.

Full details of the new 1895 Cup – which was agreed by clubs after a meeting last week - will be announced when the 2019 Betfred Championship and League One fixtures are publicised on Sunday week.

Ralph Rimmer, the RFL chief executive, said: “It (the 1895 Cup) is a recognition that the game has changed since the onset of full-time professionalism in the Super League era, meaning that for a good number of the Championship and League One clubs who have won the Challenge Cup in the past, reaching Wembley currently seems a distant dream.

“This innovation makes that dream of Wembley much more realistic and achievable.”

York - Challenge Cup finalists once, in 1931 - are the only English Championship club to have never previously lifted that silverware.

The other 11 such clubs share a total of 30 Cup wins – from Batley, who were the first winners in 1897, to Bradford Bulls, the most recent to do so in 2003.

In addition, two League One clubs – Hunslet and Oldham – are also former Challenge Cup winners, although in Oldham’s case never at Wembley.

However, only Sheffield and Bradford have played at Wembley during the Super League era (since 1996), and none of the Championship or League One clubs have reached the new Wembley since the final returned to its spiritual home in 2007.

Rimmer added: “We’ve seen in football, with the EFL Trophy that was introduced for teams for the third and fourth tiers of their professional structure as the Associate Members’ Cup in 1983, that the introduction of a realistic additional chance to reach Wembley can have a rejuvenating effect on clubs.

“With the 1895 Cup, we want to recognise the contribution of our non-Super League clubs to the game’s history since its founding as the Northern Union 123 years ago – and provide an exciting new chance for their players and supporters to taste the magic of Wembley.”

On the new Wembley deal and the move to a July date for the Challenge Cup final, Rimmer said: “This is a significant and exciting day for the Challenge Cup, and the game’s relationship with Wembley Stadium.

“Next year we will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the first Challenge Cup final at Wembley in 1929.

“Rugby league is proud of the length and strength of that association – Wembley Stadium has been the setting for so many of the greatest matches and memories in the game’s history, with Catalans Dragons writing another chapter when they became the first overseas club to win the Cup earlier this year.

“We are therefore delighted to confirm the extension of that relationship until 2027.”

The introduction of the 1895 Cup means there will be three finals at Wembley next August – as the Steven Mullaney Memorial Match (the RFL Champion Schools Final for Year 7s), which has long been established as a curtain-raiser to the Challenge Cup final, will remain part of the day.

Rimmer added: “With the Steven Mullaney Memorial Match continuing to provide a unique opportunity for some potential future stars to play at Wembley, we’ve tried to create a Challenge Cup Final Day package which will breathe new life into rugby league’s big day out.”