With the season due to commence on April 12, Manchester Titans look to build on last season’s semi-final, as well as see the sport grow in the UK.

Belle Vue has long been an underappreciated area of Manchester.

Fresh from winning Britball’s Double Coverage Programme of the Year Award, Manchester Titans American Football Club have been galvanised for 2017.

American football is very much the sport to be watching.

While Manchester Titans suffered late-season heartbreak in the
divisional play-off semi-final, they can take comfort knowing that
they have fans from across the world as a Swiss couple made the
near-800 mile trip to watch them play.

With clubs like the Manchester Titans offering budding quarterbacks the chance to try out their football skills, it’s no surprise that local fans like Bruce Sibanda are finding themselves playing internationally.

With the Opal series two thirds complete and the third installment set for Teesside this weekend, third-placed Titans will seek to book their spot at the national championship in December 6 in Nottingham, to which only the country’s four best sides are invited.

Manchester’s sole remaining American football team enjoyed comprehensive wins against lesser opponents but endured close losses to their division’s more competitive teams in between a thrilling 43-43 tie game to finish the season with five wins, four defeats and a tie.

The Manchester Titans have launched their first ever ladies football team and will compete in nationwide competitions this winter and throughout 2015.

The former Philadelphia Eagle and Tampa Bay Buccaneer, who played in the NFL for five seasons from 1999 to 2003, was in town with his training camp ahead of the Manchester Titans fixture against the Crewe Railroaders at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday.