English football fever heats up Manhattan on Boxing Day

On Thanksgiving, Americans love a little football with their turkey. On Christmas, Santa brings some prime NBA matchups. And Boxing Day is the biggest day of the year for soccer.

"It's just a tradition in England—a lot of teams get to play on Boxing Day," said one Liverpool supporter. "It's just a special time. Everybody's together—the family is all together, so we get to come out and see Liverpool play."

Fans were lined up outside of Carragher's Pub and Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan as the Reds took on Leicester City.

"We get a lot of people from Liverpool here and they say that atmosphere here rivals Anfield," Carragher's manager Michael Romero said. "There's really no other place to be to watch Liverpool play—especially here in the 'States, at Carragher's bar in New York."

On Thursday, 18 of the 20 English Premier League teams play and many of the fixtures feature rivalry matches.

"Pubs are filled, everybody loves to watch football," said another Liverpool supporter. "We're already together—we make a lot more noise when we're together!"

In addition to the soccer, the day is also about giving back, with many of the clubs donating proceeds from the Boxing Day matches to a charity of their choice.