Enquiries from US visitors for North West football tours have more than doubled since this summer’s World Cup, according to Manchester tour company NorthernTours, as growing interest in the English game drives demand for experiences beyond the stadium. NorthernTours, which offers guided football tours alongside experiences focused on music, TV and the industrial history of the North West, says it has seen a surge in enquiries from Americans wanting to explore the football culture of Manchester and Liverpool.
The rise follows a rapid growth in interest in soccer in the US, with an estimated 62.5 million Americans now following the sport, according to a report from data analytics firm Nielsen. Younger fans are driving much of that growth, with 76% of US soccer followers now Millennials or Gen Z.
Jack Traynor, founder of Manchester-based NorthernTours, said: “We’ve seen enquiries from the US increase by around 140 per cent since the World Cup, which is a pretty dramatic change. “What’s interesting is that people aren’t just asking about going to a match. They want to understand the places, clubs and stories behind the teams they follow.
“Manchester and Liverpool are famous in the US because of football, as well as their music and culture, but once people start looking into the history, rivalries and characters behind the football clubs, there is a huge amount to discover. “I think the World Cup has introduced a lot more people to the sport, and now they want to experience it where so much of its history has been made. Travelling to the UK for a sporting event, even a Premier League game weekend, is relatively affordable compared to other US sporting and concert trips too,” he added.
The North West is already a major draw for international football fans. Research has found that around one in eight international visitors to Manchester attends a match at Old Trafford, compared with around one in 40 elsewhere in Britain, with football visitors spending an estimated £800 per person per visit in the city.
Interest in English football is also growing among US audiences. NBC reported that American viewers watched more than 18 billion minutes of Premier League coverage during the 2025/26 season, an increase of 7% on the previous year.
For NorthernTours, Traynor says the trend is creating opportunities to introduce overseas visitors to the football story beyond the big-name stadiums.
Traynor, who has been a North West tour guide since he studied at the University of Salford, launched NorthernTours in December 2024.
“The great thing about doing these tours is that we can go beyond the obvious. The stadiums are a huge part of the experience, but so are the neighbourhoods, pubs, streets and people that have shaped football in this part of the world,” he said.
“It’s a chance for someone who has followed a club from the other side of the Atlantic to actually walk through the places they’ve heard about for years. “And with the number of people following English football in the US continuing to grow, I think there is a really exciting opportunity for the North West to attract more of these visitors.”
NorthernTours offers private and group tours across Manchester and the wider North West, with itineraries tailored to visitors’ interests.
