Duncan Watmore: Sunderland footballer earns first-class degree from Newcastle University

The 21-year-old is the second player from the top division to have achieved a first

Duncan Watmore graduated with First Class Honours from Newcastle University with a degree in Economics and Business Management (PA)

Trialling a new strip?

Football fans will be used to seeing Duncan Watmore in his team’s red-and-white stripes but when the Sunderland forward isn’t darting up and down the pitch he can be found burning the midnight oil in his university library. The hard work has paid off, with the studious sportsman graduating with first-class honours.

How did he manage that?

Watmore, 21, spent his evenings poring over textbooks and catching up with lectures online. Club boss Sam Allardyce allowed him a day off training to collect his first in economics and business management from Newcastle University.

Is he glad it’s all over?

“It’s a really nice feeling,” Watmore said. “It has been a lot of hard work in the past three years.”

It must have been challenging to keep up with everything.

“It was hard,” he admitted. “There were a lot of long nights in my flat just catching up, reading text books, going online for lectures, emailing lecturers.”

Is it a Premier League first?

Watmore is the second player from the top division to have achieved this. In 1992 David Wetherall received a first in chemistry from Sheffield University while with Leeds United.