Major League Baseball will come to London next year and is here to stay, according to the sport’s commissioner Rob Manfred.

Baseball’s biggest rivals - the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox - will meet at the London Stadium on June 29 and June 30 next year in two regular‑season matches.

This will be the first time MLB has come to Europe and Manfred, who began detailed talks with Sadiq Khan over the possible games when he became Mayor of London in 2016, is adamant this is just the beginning.

“We’re interested in a long-term relationship in London,” he told Standard Sport.

Two more games are lined up for 2020 at the London Stadium - potentially between different teams. The NFL have been playing regular-season games in London since 2007 and there is a hope a franchise will be based here one day. The O2 Arena has become home to an annual NBA game since 2011.

But Manfred said: “London was a target for us regardless of either football or basketball.

“We’re really excited about it. We’ve been looking for the right opportunity to come somewhere in Europe. We think that London is the perfect place and we’re excited about bringing over one of the great rivalries.”

Shahid Khan, who owns Fulham Football Club, could relocate his NFL franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars to London if his purchase of Wembley Stadium from the FA proves successful.

And Manfred admitted there could come a day when London gets its own MLB outfit. “We’d love to have additional franchises outside North America,” he said. “Our sport makes things more difficult with travel with playing 162 times in 187 days. Travel has to be a bit zippier but that’s coming along so it’s certainly not impossible.”

Manfred also said MLB had assessed other venues in London and was still looking for other possible venues in the capital. But he described the London Stadium as “just the right fit for us”.

Because of its larger dimensions as an athletics venue, it is wider than most other sports stadia in the city, and is well-suited for baseball.

Since taking over as commissioner in 2015, Manfred has pushed to take the game outside the US.

In April, the Puerto Rican capital San Juan hosted two games between the Cleveland Indians and Minnesota Twins. And a three-games series took place last weekend between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in Monterrey, Mexico. Each Yankee and Red Sox player will receive an additional £44,000 to play in London.

Manfred said he was confident both London games would be 55,000 sell-outs. “We’ve never had greater interest in such an international game,” he said. “I was on the phone to a high-ranking politician in the US the other day and their interest was very much in making sure they could get tickets to London.”

For Khan, the introduction of top-line baseball is the latest move in his ambition of making London the sporting capital of the world.

He told Standard Sport: “Since I became Mayor, I have been determined to bring baseball to our city and I am really pleased we have been able to reach what is an historic agreement.

“I’m committed - as is MLB - to ensure baseball has a long-term future over many years in London.”

Pre-register for 2019 MLB London Series tickets at mlb.com/london-series