Gateshead Football Club (GFC) has confirmed that it has joined forces with Gateshead College's Academy for Sport to create more opportunities for talented young players to enter professional football.

Fitness training and development programmes drawn up by the club and the college's coaching team will also be used to help benefit those students enrolled on the Football Scholarship Programme. Alex Snowdon, head of sport at Gateshead College, said: "We are always exploring opportunities to create partnerships with leading sports organisations and local clubs in order to ensure we are providing the best possible opportunities for our students.

"Through this new partnership our scholarship and other Football Academy students will receive coaching and fitness development from Gateshead Football Club." The college's Football Scholarship Programme was launched in September at the Academy of Sport, situated at Gateshead International Stadium, and provides 16-year-olds who have already played for a professional club with a second chance to develop their game.

GFC players will also be able to use fitness testing facilities at the Academy for Sport, as well as having access to the sports science lab. Meanwhile, the club has also secured an initial one-year partnership with Gateshead Thunder, which comes weeks after the long-term future of the rugby league team was threatened by the withdrawal of its main investor.

GFC chair Graham Wood said: "The way in which Thunder's curent directors have gone about rebuilding a viable operation since the three principal shareholders of the club's former holding company decided to withdraw their financial support is most impressive and fully deserves to succeed."