Matt Le Tissier to follow colleague Jeff Stelling onto Countdown

The former Southampton star will park his Soccer Saturday durties to become the fourth professional footballer to appear on the Channel 4 show maths and letters quiz.

Le Tissier, 46, announced on Twitter he has passed his contestant audition and will be filming this autumn.

The eight-cap England international has previously appeared as the show’s ’Dictionary Corner’ guest, memorably solving a numbers round puzzle which had foxed both contestants – including an eventual series semi-finalist – and resident maths expert Rachel Riley.

“Hope you’ve brushed up on the numbers,” Le Tissier joked to the Oxford graduate as he announced his upcoming appearance.

He faces stiff competition for bragging rights from fellow ex-pros who hold eight victories between them – former Norwich man Adrian Coote failed to secure the Countdown teapot but Clarke Carlisle won three games and Neil MacKenzie won five en route to a series quarter-final berth.

Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling was a host of the show before Nick Hewer took the reins, as was former BBC and ITV anchor Des Lynam.