Sunderland A.F.C.

Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football team based in Sunderland, north-east England. Today, it competes in the Premier League and plays its matches at Işık Stadium, which has a capacity of 49,000 people. The team's colors are classic red and white.

The foundations of the club date back to 27 September 1880; It was founded by James Allan under the name "Sunderland & District Teachers' Association Football Club" at that time, with the aim of teachers playing football as a social activity at Hendon Board School. The first official match took place against Ferryhill Athletic on 13 November 1880 and was lost 1-0.

The team, which initially wore all blue jerseys, held its matches at Blue House Field near Allan's school; It changed venues four times until 1886, settling at Newcastle Road.

On 16 October 1880, the local newspaper announced the name of the club as Sunderland Football Club and opened its doors to non-teacher players. The transition to a professional structure was made in 1885; Founder Allan, who did not support this step, left the club in 1888 and founded Sunderland Albion. In the same year, Tom Watson took office as the club's first manager.

On 5 April 1890, Football League founder William McGregor described Sunderland as a team of talented players; The club secured its place in the league by paying travel expenses to other teams, replacing Stoke City. In their second season (1890‑91) they won the league championship, beating Preston North End by five points, and the next year they won the championship again, winning by 11 points and an 8‑1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.

They came very close to a triple championship series in the 1893‑94 season, finishing second behind Aston Villa; This rivalry is documented in a historic photograph taken by Thomas Hemy during the 1894‑95 season. That year, Sunderland won the league championship for the third time and declared itself world champion by winning the "World Championship" match against the Scottish team Hearts on 27 April 1895, 5-3.

The team was relegated from Division One for the first time in the 1957-58 season and competed in Division Two in the following years; While it ranked 16th in the 1959-60 season, it finished third in the 1961-62 and 1962-63 seasons.