A college is to become a training ground for the soccer stars of the future, thanks to a cash windfall.

A £425,000 sports pavilion will be built at Manor College of Technology, Hartlepool, enabling it to become one of the key training centres for budding footballers in the region.

The final piece of funding was made available yesterday, when the Football Foundation, the country's largest sports charity, gave the college a £342,441 grant.

Another £40,000 has come from the Owton Rossmere Single Regeneration Budget Partnership and the school has raised £43,000.

The new pavilion will include six changing rooms, three officials' rooms, a first aid room, a social area, and changing facilities for disabled people.

The work is expected to start within a month and will be finished before the end of the year.

The school will be working closely with local groups to ensure that people of all ages get the most out of the facility.

Alan White, headteacher at the college, said: "This is a great day for the college and the town as a whole.

"It has always been our ambition to provide first-class football training facilities for boys and girls of all ages, and adults as well.

"Thanks to these grants, we will be able to establish a regional centre of excellence for football training.

"Our aim is to foster a love of football at all levels of the game, and with the facilities we will be able to create here, I am sure we will be able to excel."

The college already has a partnership with Hartlepool United Football Club and Adam Boyd, one of its players, is a former Manor College pupil.

The club's School of Excellence has been based at the college since 1997.

The college is also home to Hartlepool Primary Schools' Football Association, and the new facilities will help the association's training programmes.

It will host matches such as Schools' Football Association town and county games and local cup finals.