England · Sunderland
Sunderland
Sunderland Association Football Club
The Black Cats
English club from Sunderland, in the north-east of England, founded in 1879 as Sunderland and District Teachers AFC. Six-time league champions (most recently in 1935-36), they won the FA Cup in 1937 and 1973 and have played at the Stadium of Light since 1997.
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The club
- Name
- Sunderland
- Full name
- Sunderland Association Football Club
- Nickname
- The Black Cats
- Founded
- October 17, 1879
- City
- Sunderland
- Country
- England
- Official website
- safc.com
- Colors
- #EB172B, #FFFFFF, #000000
- Competitions
- FA Cup (since 1884)
- Football League First Division (1890–1957)
- EFL Cup (since 1960)
- Football League First Division (1964–1969)
- European Cup Winners' Cup (1973)
- Football League First Division (1976)
- Football League First Division (1980–1984)
- Football League First Division (1990)
- Football League First Division (1992–1995)
- Premier League (1996)
- Football League First Division (1997–1998)
- Premier League (1999–2002)
- Football League First Division (2003)
- Championship (2004)
- Premier League (2005)
- Championship (2006)
- Premier League (2007–2016)
- Championship (2017)
- League One (2018–2021)
- Championship (2022–2024)
- Premier League (since 2025)
- In the archive
- 1 crest · 29 shirts
Current crest
Since 1997
Shirts
1880s
1980s
1990s
Club history
English club from Sunderland, in the north-east of England, founded in 1879 as Sunderland and District Teachers AFC. Six-time league champions (most recently in 1935-36), they won the FA Cup in 1937 and 1973 and have played at the Stadium of Light since 1997. In 2025 they returned to the Premier League after an eight-year absence.
The full story is for premium members
Sunderland was born in 1879 on the initiative of James Allan, a teacher at Hendon Board School, under the name Sunderland and District Teachers AFC. The following year the club opened its doors to players who were not teachers and became Sunderland AFC. The exact founding date is still debated: research in the press of the time places the club's first public announcement in September 1880.
The fans
The fans' banners
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