Premier League football club Sunderland is offering young players qualifications to transition into the health and fitness sector if they fail to make the grade as professional footballers.

The north-east club has teamed up with awarding organisation Active IQ to to offer the Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instruction, Level 2 Award in Instructing Circuits and Level 3 Certificate in Personal Training.

Sunderland AFC is now an “approved training centre”, and the club’s assistant head of education Dr Michele Di Mascio said it was important young players added “another string to their bow”.

“Not only will training for these qualifications give our young players valuable additional knowledge about their sport, fitness and performance, it also means that should their professional football career not work out for any reason or we have to release them early, they can change direction quickly and easily,” he added.

Two 16-year-old full-time players will be the first to take the courses, with both plumping for the Level 2 Certificate in Fitness Instruction.

Di Mascio said Active IQ had a “great reputation”, and he was hopeful that players would progress their education “under their watchful eye”.