Sunderland’s Duncan Watmore thanked his “awesome” club and tutors after he graduated with first-class honours from Newcastle University.

The 21-year-old forward juggled training sessions with long hours of study, poring over textbooks and catching up on lectures online, to secure the degree.

His parents – Ian, a former chief executive of the Football Association, and Georgina, a rector in Cheshire – watched as Watmore picked up the economics and business management degree at the ceremony, their son having been given the day off training by the Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce.

Watmore started his degree at Manchester University when he was playing non-league football with Altrincham, but switched to the north-east after impressing Sunderland scouts. In recent weeks he has earned praise for his direct style of play – and last month came off the bench for England Under-21s to star in a 3-1 win over Switzerland.

Duncan Watmore was given time off training to attend his graduation ceremony. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

After the the graduation ceremony, he said: “It’s a really nice feeling. It has been a lot of hard work in the past three years. It is good to get it done.

“You have to sacrifice a lot with football but that was something I was more than willing to do because football was my ultimate aim and the degree was something I just wanted to do in the evening to catch up at night.

“It was not the typical student life. I missed out on a few things but I really enjoyed it. It was hard. There were a lot of long nights in my flat just catching up, reading textbooks, going online for lectures, emailing lecturers. It was hard at times but the club at Sunderland were awesome with me, and so were Newcastle University. They were both always willing to compromise to help me to get through, they were massive in what I achieved and so I’m very grateful for that.”

Watmore said a typical day involved training and gym work before he would go back to the flat where he lived alone around teatime to start his studies. “There are a lot worse jobs to combine a degree with than football, so I can’t really complain,” he said.

Asked what his team-mates thought, he replied: “You get a bit of good-natured banter but they are class. I received a lot of support from them, which was really nice. I didn’t make too many course-mates because I was never in to make them, but I know a few people up here in Newcastle and so they were supportive as well.”

Watmore did have a more typical student experience at Manchester University, living in halls of residence and sharing a kitchen with 10 others when he was also playing at Altrincham.

“I properly experienced the uni side of things there,” he said. “The last two years has been more the academic side.”

• This article was amended on 10 December to remove the reference to David Wetherall being the only other Premier League footballer to gain a first-class degree