The Rugby Football League has confirmed that a Canadian side will be introduced into English rugby league from next season. Toronto Wolfpack will enter League One – the sport’s third tier – and will play home and away fixtures in blocks of four or five, staying in Yorkshire while playing away and training in Bradford.

The Wolfpack will play their home games at Toronto’s Lamport Stadium, home of the Canada national side, and have already confirmed an impressive off-field team to head up the organisation. The former Great Britain coach Brian Noble will join as director of rugby with the former Leigh coach Paul Rowley working as head coach. “It’s brand new – I’ve done a lot of things in the game but to be involved in this and to take something from nowhere is exciting,” Noble said.

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The Guardian revealed last year that talks were taking place about the RFL admitting a side from across the Atlantic, and the Wolfpack will fund the expenses of the other 15 League One sides, 12 of which are part-time, when they travel to Toronto.

“Toronto is a city ready to embrace the first transatlantic sports team, and we’re proud to be behind it,” said Eric Perez, the club’s CEO. “We have a consortium of very successful businessmen and we’ve set up platforms of exposure for sponsorship that will ensure the team is well-backed and well-funded.”

With the infrastructure and launch of the club confirmed, attention will now turn to recruiting the players for the inaugural season in 2017. Rowley and Noble both confirmed that they will conduct a wide search for talent, but the former insisted it is vital there is a Canadian presence in the squad – an area of the world in which rugby league is relatively unknown at the moment.

“It’s important to have homegrown flavour,” Noble said. “The immediate goal is winning but we’ll be spending a month here to ensure we find the top athletes this country is producing: there will be north American roots.”

Noble also said he sees no reason why the club cannot aim for the highest level in the shortest space of time. “If you have a dream you’ve got to dream as big as you can,” he said. “If you speak to everyone involved their goal is Super League – and once you’re in there, you’ve a chance of winning it. We want to be right up there.”