WIDNES Vikings will be one of 20 non-Super League clubs who will contest the inaugural 1895 Cup.

The new competition provides the club a second opportunity to earn a trip to Wembley Stadium in 2019 with the final acting as a curtain raiser to the Challenge Cup Final.

It will largely be a heartlands cup with Coventry Bears, London Skolars and North Wales Crusaders opting not to enter for logistical reasons, meaning eight clubs from Betfred League 1 will play a straight knockout in the First Round on May 5-6 – before the 12 English clubs from the Betfred Championship, including Vikings, join the four First Round winners in the last 16.

The winners of those eight fixtures, to be played in the first week of June, will earn places in the 1895 Cup quarter finals later in the month – with the semi finals to be played the day after the Challenge Cup semi finals, on Sunday July 28.

That will leave the finalists with almost a month to prepare for the 1895 Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday August 24.

First round (May 4-5; draw in April on date tbc) - teams enter: Doncaster, Hunslet, Keighley Cougars, Newcastle Thunder, Oldham, West Wales Raiders, Whitehaven, Workington Town.

Second round (June 2-5; draw in early May date tbc) - teams enter: Barrow Raiders, Batley Bulldogs, Bradford Bulls, Dewsbury Rams, Featherstone Rovers, Halifax, Leigh Centurions, Rochdale Hornets, Sheffield Eagles, Swinton Lions, Widnes Vikings, York City Knights, plus four First Round winners.

Quarter Finals – week starting June 24.

Semi Finals – Sunday July 28.

Final – Wembley Stadium, Saturday August 24.

Widnes, who were once unofficially twinned with the place between 1975 and 1984, have not been to Wembley since 1993.

The closest they came was the semi final defeat by Castleford in 2014.