60 Fun Facts About Sunderland

Sunderland were founded in 1879 by schoolmaster James Allan as a club for what group of people?

Sunderland and District Teachers A.F.C. opened up to non-teachers and dropped the name in October 1880.

William McGregor dubbed 1890s Sunderland the 'Team of All Talents' after a 7-2 win over which club?

Sunderland won the title in 1891-92, only their second season in the League, and retained it the next year.

In 1892-93 Sunderland became the first team to do what in a Football League season?

Scottish centre-forward John Campbell passed 30 goals for the second season running.

After the 1895 title, Sunderland beat which Scottish champions in a game billed as the 'World Championship'?

Goalkeeper Ned Doig kept clean sheets in 87 of his 290 top-flight games, a 19th-century world record.

Sunderland's first manager, Tom Watson, resigned in 1896 to join which club?

He went on to win two titles at Anfield too, becoming the first manager to win the League with two clubs.

Sunderland's record league win, in December 1908, was a 9-1 victory over which opponents?

The 9-1 came at St James' Park, and Newcastle still went on to win the title that season.

In 1913 Sunderland won the league but lost their first FA Cup final 1-0 to which club?

Irish manager Bob Kyle and Scottish captain Charles Thomson led the side to the title.

Whose 43 goals in 42 games in 1928-29 remain Sunderland's record for a single season?

The season before, his 35 goals had only just kept the club up by a single point.

Which two Sunderland players scored 31 goals each in the 109-goal 1935-36 title season?

Gurney is still the club's all-time top scorer with 228 goals in all competitions.

The 1936 death of Sunderland keeper Jimmy Thorpe, kicked after gathering a back-pass, led to what rule change?

Thorpe finished the match against Chelsea, collapsed at home and died four days later.

Sunderland's first FA Cup win, in 1937, was a 3-1 victory over which club at Wembley?

Fan Billy Morris took a black cat to the final in his chest pocket for luck.

Sunderland's £18,000 signing of Ivor Broadis from Carlisle in 1949 was the first case of a player doing what?

Record fees for Len Shackleton and Trevor Ford earned Sunderland the nickname 'the Bank of England club'.

Sunderland's 1950s nickname 'the Bank of England club' referred to what?

In 1957 the club was fined £5,000 for paying players over the maximum wage, and relegated for the first time a year later.

Sunderland's first ever relegation, in 1958, ended a top-flight stay of how many years?

They had joined the League in 1890-91; the drop came a year after a fine for illegal payments to players.

Who scored the only goal, a 30th-minute volley, in Sunderland's 1973 FA Cup final win over Leeds?

Montgomery's double save from Trevor Cherry and Peter Lorimer preserved the lead.

Which two clubs have matched Sunderland's 1973 feat of winning the FA Cup as a Second Division side?

The Cup win sent Sunderland into the Cup Winners' Cup, their only European campaign until 2026.

In the 1973-74 Cup Winners' Cup, Sunderland lost to which club after beating Vasas?

It took until the 2025-26 seventh-place finish for Sunderland to qualify for Europe again.

Which 1985 League Cup final opponent later shared a 'Friendship Trophy' with Sunderland?

Good relations formed around that Milk Cup final; Sunderland lost their second League Cup final 3-1 to Manchester City in 2014.

In 1990 Sunderland lost the play-off final but were promoted anyway. Why?

Sunderland lasted one season before going down on the final day.

The Stadium of Light, opened in 1997, was at the time the largest stadium built in England since when?

It opened with a game against Ajax and its 42,000 capacity was raised to 49,000 in 2000.

The Stadium of Light was built on the site of what?

A Davy lamp monument stands outside and a colliery wheel tops the club crest as reminders.

Which member of the royal family opened the Stadium of Light in 1997?

The ground shares its name, in translation, with Benfica's Estádio da Luz.

Sunderland's 1999 promotion as First Division champions came with a then-record points total of how many?

They finished seventh in the Premier League the next season, with Kevin Phillips scoring 30 goals.

Which Sunderland striker won the European Golden Shoe in 1999-2000 with 30 goals?

He remains the only Englishman to have won the award.

Sunderland's 2005-06 relegation came with what then record-low Premier League points total?

They had already set the previous record with 19 points in 2003; Derby later went lower with 11.

Which former player headed the Drumaville Consortium that bought Sunderland in 2006 and hired Roy Keane?

Keane's side went on a 17-match unbeaten run to win promotion in his first season.

Which Ghana international did Sunderland sign for a then club-record £13 million in 2010?

Darren Bent's £10 million fee had been the record a year earlier; Bent left for Aston Villa in a deal worth up to £24 million.

Which Italian was controversially appointed Sunderland manager in March 2013?

He kept the club up with a game to spare before relations with his players broke down completely.

Sunderland lost the 2014 League Cup final 3-1 to which club under Gus Poyet?

Fans campaigned to get D:Ream's 'Things Can Only Get Better' back in the charts for the final, and it re-entered the Dance Chart at 19.

Which manager left Sunderland in July 2016 to take the England job?

David Moyes replaced him and took two points from the first ten games, the worst start in Premier League history.

Jordan Pickford's 2017 £30 million move from Sunderland to Everton was then a record fee for what?

It remains the biggest fee Sunderland have received for a player.

Which season did 'Sunderland 'Til I Die' document, ending in a second successive relegation?

The title comes from one of the fans' most famous chants; a second series followed despite players' objections.

In December 2018 Sunderland set a League One attendance record against which club?

Over 2013-18 the club's average of 39,249 was the 38th highest in world football, above Juventus and Porto.

Which club beat Sunderland in the 2019 League One play-off final at Wembley?

Sunderland finally escaped League One in 2022 by beating Wycombe 2-0 in the final.

Sunderland's 2020 finish of eighth in League One, their lowest ever, was decided how?

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus completed his takeover of a controlling stake in February 2021.

Which manager holds the shortest stint in Sunderland's history, sacked after just 12 games in 2024?

Interim boss Mike Dodds finished the season 16th before Régis Le Bris arrived from Lorient.

Who scored Sunderland's stoppage-time winner in the 2025 Championship play-off final?

He shares his name with the club's first manager; Ballard's last-minute extra-time goal had won the semi-final against Coventry.

Sunderland's seventh-place finish in 2025-26 ended a European absence of how many years?

The club's only previous European campaign followed the 1973 FA Cup win.

Which club sold Habib Diarra to Sunderland for a then-record €31.5 million in July 2025?

Every summer 2025 signing beat the old Gyan record as the club spent €115 million by mid-July.

Before adopting red and white stripes in 1887-88, Sunderland's first kit was what colour?

Red-and-white halves came in 1884 before the stripes.

The 1997 club crest shows the Penshaw Monument and which other local landmark?

The Latin motto beneath, Consectatio Excellentiae, means 'in pursuit of excellence'.

'The Black Cats' became Sunderland's official nickname how, in 2000?

A real black cat lived at Roker Park in the 1900s and 1910s and was fed by the club.

Which Elvis song do Sunderland fans sing before every kick-off, adding the club's name?

Prokofiev's 'Dance of the Knights' plays before the teams emerge and Republica's 'Ready to Go' is the walk-on song.

The 1996 fan single 'Cheer Up Peter Reid' was set to the tune of which song?

It reached number 41 in the UK chart and its proceeds went to cancer charities.

Sunderland fans share a friendship with which Dutch club, dating from shipbuilders in Rotterdam?

A more hostile modern grudge is with Coventry City, over a 1977 match that sent Sunderland down and kept Coventry up.

Roker Park's record crowd of over 75,000 in March 1933 came in an FA Cup replay against which club?

The ground was bombed in 1943, killing a special constable on patrol, and was demolished for housing in 1997.

Which of Sunderland's early grounds was the first at which the club charged admission?

The club has had eight homes, starting at Blue House Field in Hendon in 1879 for a rent of £10.

Which goalkeeper holds Sunderland's league appearance record with 527 games between 1961 and 1976?

His 1973 Cup final double save is the most replayed moment in the club's history.

Thomas Hemy's 1895 painting shows Sunderland at Newcastle Road against which club?

The Villa link runs deep: they cost Sunderland a hat-trick of titles in 1894 and beat them in the 1913 Cup final.

Which Scottish manager led Sunderland to their sixth and most recent league title in 1935-36?

Two years later he oversaw the club's first FA Cup win at Wembley.

Record fees for Len Shackleton and which Welsh striker helped earn the 'Bank of England club' tag?

The big spending of the 1950s ended with the club's first ever relegation in 1958.

Which Bolton boss replaced Jack Ross as Sunderland manager in 2019?

He was sacked in November 2020, and Lee Johnson's tenure then ended after a 6-0 defeat at Bolton.

From which French club did Sunderland appoint head coach Régis Le Bris in June 2024?

Within a year he had taken the club back to the Premier League via the play-offs.

What share of Sunderland did Kyril Louis-Dreyfus hold after Juan Sartori's 2023 buyout?

Sartori bought out Stewart Donald's remaining shares in 2023.

What monument stands outside the Stadium of Light as a reminder of the colliery beneath it?

The Durham Miners' Association also presented the club with a miners' banner.

What did Sunderland fan Billy Morris carry in his chest pocket to the 1937 FA Cup final for luck?

The cup came home, and the club adopted the animal as its official nickname by fan vote in 2000.

Which brewery sponsored Sunderland's shirts from 1985 to 1999?

Local car dealer Reg Vardy took over the shirt from 1999 to 2007.

Which Irish bookmaker's one-season shirt deal ended with the rights gifted to Children with Cancer UK?

Boylesports had earlier signed a four-year deal worth an estimated £8 million in 2007.

In October 2015 Sunderland beat Newcastle for a record how many consecutive derbies?

The Tyne-Wear derby has been contested since 1898; Middlesbrough are the other traditional rival.

Which 1998 six-part BBC documentary followed Sunderland two decades before Netflix's series?

Netflix's eight-part Sunderland 'Til I Die took its title from a terrace chant.