Rugby league will be staged at the Olympic Stadium for the first time this autumn with the venue set to be confirmed on Wednesday as a location for England’s Test series against New Zealand.

The announcement will mark the return of international rugby league to London for the first time since England’s last-gasp World Cup semi-final defeat to the Kiwis in 2013 at Wembley, when a late Shaun Johnson try and goal sealed a dramatic 20-18 win for New Zealand.

It will be one of a trio of venues announced by the Rugby Football League as locations for the three-match series, with Hull’s KC Stadium and Wigan’s DW Stadium set to be the other two stadiums announced.

The RFL are believed to be keen to hold the second Test rather than the first at the Olympic Stadium due to a clash with the final matches of the Rugby World Cup the weekend before. The ground will host the bronze final between the two losers of the semi-finals on the same weekend that the England-New Zealand series begins. Therefore, the game at the Olympic Stadium is expected to be confirmed for Saturday 7 November as the middle match of the series.

Hull is believed to have been selected due to the city’s recent links with New Zealand rugby league, having previously hosted a Test during the Kiwis’ last tour of England in 2007. Indeed, the Kiwis coach, Stephen Kearney, is a former Hull FC player, whilst the England coach, Steve McNamara, is a native of Hull. The opening match of the series is likely to be played in the city, with Wigan hosting the final game two weeks later.

Officials at the RFL are believed to be interested in taking the international series to a fresh venue and are confident that it will help lead to the selling out for the Test, as opposed to taking the game to the traditional London venue of Wembley.

The capacity of the Olympic Stadium – it will be reduced from the 80,000 that it held during the Olympics to a figure of 54,000 in anticipation of long-term tenants West Ham United moving into the stadium next year – is also believed to be another key reason in hosting the Test there.