Two former professional footballers have independently told the Guardian about another person within the sport who had links to the serial paedophile Barry Bennell and preyed on boys without ever being detected.

Both former players have come forward separately to name the same man, alleging they were abused in one-off incidents as well as being among the extensive list of victims from Bennell’s three decades as a coach and talent-spotter.

The new information came as the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League released a joint statement to praise Andy Woodward for his “immense courage” in waiving his anonymity, at the age of 43, to tell this newspaper about the years of serious sexual abuse he endured from Bennell while on the books of Crewe Alexandra.

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Woodward, whose football career also featured spells at Bury and Sheffield United, had to quit the sport aged 29 because he was unable to cope with the trauma of what he had experienced and believes there are “potentially hundreds of other victims” given Bennell’s long association with junior and professional football.

Bennell, now 62, was jailed for nine years in 1998 after admitting 23 specimen charges of sexual offences against six boys aged nine to 15. Bennell worked as a scout and coach for Crewe Alexandra in the 1980s and 1990s but also had close links in the past with Manchester City and Stoke City, as well as being prominently involved in junior teams in Greater Manchester, Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire all the way back to the early-1970s. In May 2015, he was sentenced to two years in prison for another historical sexual offence committed against a 12-year-old boy on a football course in Macclesfield.

One of Woodward’s principal reasons for speaking about his own ordeal was that he wanted to “give strength” to others who have suffered in the same way. The Guardian has now been contacted by three people who were coached by Bennell and say they were abused by a man who described himself in legal proceedings as a “monster”. Two had never previously come forward.

Woodward’s case was described as “heart-breaking” by the FA’s head of equality and safeguarding, Sue Ravenlaw, and the Professional Footballers’ Association is encouraging other players to come forward if they have experienced the same.

“Andy has been very brave and hats off to him,” Michael Bennett, the PFA’s head of player welfare, said. “We say to our members: ‘Come forward and seek help’ because it is a taboo, it’s seen as a weakness and we want to go against that and say it’s not a weakness to talk. It’s OK to talk. If Andy is the voice that gets the process under way and opens the gates for other people to come forward, we’re ready for them with the support in place. What people might tend to do is suffer in silence and we don’t want that. We want our members to be able to feel comfortable and confident to get the support that we offer.”

Woodward had talked about how his own ordeal left him suicidal, suffering panic attacks while he was playing and constantly battling depression and anxiety. Although he eventually confided in Stan Ternent and Neil Warnock, his managers at Bury, he felt unable to tell any of his team-mates because of the dressing-room culture within the sport.

“Reading Andy Woodward’s story is heart-breaking and we applaud his immense courage in coming forward to speak about the horrific abuse he suffered,” Ravenlaw said in the joint statement. “Barry Bennell remains permanently suspended from football in line with our procedures.

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“The FA takes all matters of safeguarding and child protection seriously and we encourage anyone who may have experienced, or is experiencing, abuse in football to contact the NSPCC’s confidential helpline. We’ve worked with the NSPCC for 16 years and we know how important it is for victims of abuse to receive independent, confidential support from trained professionals.

“In conjunction with the Premier League, the Football League and the county FAs, we’ve been working to build fun and safe environments for children and young people to participate in. The FA and the football bodies do not tolerate any form of bullying or abuse in football. More than 35,000 people go through the FA’s safeguarding-children awareness workshop or tailored training every season and we require every club or league with affiliated teams who are under 18, to have a named, trained designated safeguarding officer, who has been criminal-records checked.”

• The NSPCC’s helpline is 0808 800 5000 or Child Line for children and young people can be contacted on 0800 1111.

• In the UK, The Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.