All three England sides have learnt their base cities for next year's Rugby League World Cup, following a series of innovative announcements across social media.

Shaun Wane's men will be based in Manchester - alongside holders Australia - with Craig Richards and the women's side taking up a temporary home in Leeds, and the Wheelchair side basing themselves in London.

With 500 days to go until the opening fixture of the Rugby League World Cup 2021 (RLWC2021) at St James’ Park in Newcastle, RLWC2021 have revealed the locations of the team bases for all competing nations across the men’s, women’s, and wheelchair tournaments.

The squads from the 21 unique nations and 32 teams will be based in different locations across the country. The men’s holders Australia will join England in Manchester, while the women’s champions, also Australia, will be based in York. France, the wheelchair RLWC holders, will be based in Sheffield.

The full list of host towns and cities, and the corresponding nations is as follows:

• Bolton – France (Men’s)
• Doncaster – Samoa (Men’s)
• Hull – Fiji (Men’s)
• Leeds – Jamaica, Ireland (Men’s) | England, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Canada (Women’s)
• Liverpool and St Helens – Tonga, Italy (Men’s teams)
• London – England, Australia, Norway, Spain (Wheelchair)
• Manchester and Trafford – England, Australia (Men’s)
• Newcastle – Scotland (Men’s)
• Preston – Wales (Men’s)
• Sheffield – Greece (Men’s) | France, Wales, Scotland, USA (Wheelchair)
• Tees Valley – Cook Islands (Men’s)
• Warrington – Papua New Guinea (Men’s)
• Wigan/Leigh – Lebanon (Men’s)
• York – New Zealand (Men’s) | Australia, New Zealand, France, Cook Islands (Women’s)

All the host cities and towns, including those who won’t be a dedicated team base (Coventry and Kirklees), will form a huge part of making the tournament a success, welcoming players from around the world and adopting them as their own, as they get behind them and cheer them on in 500 days’ time. Following this announcement, the fixtures for all three tournaments will be announced on 21 July 2020.

Jon Dutton, RLWC2021 Chief Executive, said:

“Today marks another hugely exciting milestone on the road to Rugby League World Cup 2021 as we celebrate 500 days until the opening fixture at St James' Park, Newcastle in October next year.

“It’s great to finally be able to reveal the team bases to the nations and their supporters along with our host towns and cities. We know that all our hosts are immensely proud of their community, so there is no doubting that all the nations are guaranteed an extremely warm welcome when they arrive. We’re calling on hosts to adopt their incoming nations and treat them as one of their own, cheering them on and showing them the very best of what their people and place has to offer.”

“Our refreshed tournament identity which has togetherness at its core serves as a signpost to hope, optimism and excitement for what’s to come in 2021 as we continue to build momentum towards what promises to be the biggest and best ever Rugby League World Cup.”