The draw for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup will be made on July 19 ©RLIF

The draw for the 2017 Rugby League World Cup will be made on July 19 of this year, it has been announced.

The date was confirmed by Rugby League World Cup chief executive Michael Brown.

Fourteen teams will play 28 matches over five weeks at the tournament, which will be co-hosted by Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Australia are the defending champions after winning their 10th title at the 2013 World Cup in England.

The English will join the three host nations in 2017, along with Fiji, France, Lebanon, Samoa, Scotland, Tonga and the United States.

Matches will be played between October 26 and December 2.

In March, it was announced that the Rugby League World Cup trophy will be named after Paul Barriere, a former President of the sport’s worldwide governing body.

He is considered one of the spearheads of the Rugby League World Cup, the first edition of which was held in his native France in 1954, and was a driving force behind the creation of the International Rugby League Board.