Eleven people have come forward to police in the wake of revelations about sexual abuse in football in Britain.
Former footballers Paul Stewart, Andy Woodward and David White have said they were abused by football coaches as children.
Former Liverpool and Tottenham player Stewart waived his anonymity in an interview with the Daily Mirror, after ex-Sheffield United player Woodward and former Manchester City player White revealed they had been abused by coach and talent scout Barry Bennell.
Bennell, who worked for Crewe Alexandra, Manchester City, Stoke and several junior teams in northwest England and the midlands, was given a four-year sentence for raping a British boy on a football tour of Florida in 1994 and then a nine-year sentence for 23 offences against six boys in England in 1998.
The predatory paedophile, who scouted a host of future football stars in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, was the subject of Channel 4 documentary called 'Soccer's Foul Play' in 1997.
He would be jailed a third time in 2015 when he pleaded guilty to abusing a boy at a football camp in Macclesfield in 1980.
The news of potential further cases came as the NSPCC announced it had set up a dedicated helpline for victims of abuse within football, with the support of the Football Association.
Detective Inspector Sarah Hall, of Cheshire Police public protection unit, said they are in the process of contacting a number of people who have come forward.
She said no arrests have been made and no-one else is under investigation.
Stewart alleges he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a man who threatened to kill his family if he spoke out.
He claimed other boys were also abused by the same man.
Stewart told the newspaper: "The mental scars led me into other problems with drink and drugs. I know now it was a grooming process. The level of abuse got worse and worse."
He added that if he was not playing well then the trainer would threaten him with violence as well as sexual abuse.
The claims by the former FA Cup winner with Spurs follow Woodward's interview with The Guardian in which he said he suffered at the hands of Bennell between the ages of 11 and 15.
Sue Ravenlaw, head of equality and safeguarding at the Football Association, said she applauded Woodward's courage after he spoke out.
She added that the FA takes all matters of safeguarding and child protection seriously.
Former England and Manchester City player White made nearly 400 league appearances for City, Leeds and Sheffield United between 1985 and 1998, and earned his single England cap in 1992.
The Manchester-born forward played locally before joining City's youth set-up. It was during this period that he says he met Bennell, who he said abused him.
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