Organisers hope the event will become an annual affair, helping to bridge the gap between Paralympic Games.

The two-day competition will be funded by UK Sport, Manchester City Council and the North West Development Agency, and it will be televised by the BBC.

Funding has been secured for an initial three-year period for what will be the biggest annual multi-sport competition for elite disabled athletes.

It will be held in Manchester until at least 2007.

Next year's event will take place over the weekend of 14-15 May and will feature the best athletes from four Paralympic sports of athletics, swimming, cycling and wheelchair basketball.

Competitions will be held in the same venues used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Sports marketing and events company Fast Track, which also organises UK Athletics events, came up with the idea for the World Cup concept.

And chairman Alan Pascoe is hopeful the competition will be a success and help raise awareness of Paralympic sport in Britain.

Appetite

"We're hoping to attract the broadest range of competitors possible," said Pascoe, speaking at a news conference at the Athens Paralympics.

"We hope the event will help to raise awareness of Paralympic sport and provide a real competitive platform for elite athletes to complement the Paralympics."

A total of 2.2m viewers watched Tanni Grey Thompson's 800m wheelchair heat on Sunday - the first time a Paralympic race has been shown live on the BBC.

The BBC's head of major events Dave Gordon said: "There is a clear audience appetite for world-class disability sport and we believe this new event can play a crucial role in raising the profile of the top athletes in the years between Paralympics."