Stadium and new academy latest steps in NFL's UK expansion

Stars from the United States' National Football League are in London this week to offer advice, inspiration, and the glimmer of hope that a career in professional sports may await some of the 120 local boys taking part in gridiron trials.

Many of the NFL stars coaching the boys have escaped inner city lives blighted by drugs and gangs and wanted to share the message in the UK capital that it is possible to leave such challenges behind.

Tahir Whitehead, a linebacker who plays for the Oakland Raiders, said the try-outs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, for youths aged 16 to 18, are aimed at finding quality students to attend a new NFL academy that will open in north London in September that could offer young men trapped in some of London's roughest neighborhoods a way out.

"It reminds me of back when I was their age," Whitehead told the Guardian newspaper. "I was growing up seeing people doing drugs. You are hearing about friends getting shot on the way to school, someone's mom getting car-jacked, someone dropping out of school and dealing drugs to help their family. I was on my way to football and I saw one of my friends get shot down."

The try-outs and the academy they aim to populate are the latest manifestations of the NFL's expansion into the United Kingdom, which is likely to culminate in the establishment of the NFL's first overseas team, in London.

Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK, said NFL star Efe Obada, who was born in Nigeria and smuggled into London aged 10 before being raised by foster parents, shows how professional sport can turn lives around.

The NFL Academy will offer places to 80 young people who will combine full-time education with life skills tuition and intensive American football training under the watchful eye of full-time professional coaches.

The recently built Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was designed to not only accommodate Premier League soccer but also NFL games and the club has signed a 10-year deal with the NFL to host regular-season games there. The first of those games is scheduled for Oct 6, when the Chicago Bears take on the Oakland Raiders. Other games to be played at the stadium include the Carolina Panthers facing Tampa Bay Buccaneers a week later.

The 1-billion-pound ($1.26 billion) Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the first purpose-built venue constructed to NFL standards outside North America and includes oversized changing rooms that can accommodate the NFL's 53-player squads and a retractable pitch that will be used for gridiron matches.