The 2024–25 season was the 146th season in the history of

Sunderland Association Football Club Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 187 ...

and their third consecutive season in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. The club are participating in the

, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, and the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. Despite beginning the season with 9 wins from their first 12 games to put Sunderland top of the table, a run of 5 draws and a loss from their next 6 games dropped the Black Cats into 4th place where they would remain for the rest of the season to earn a place in the playoffs, despite losing their last 5 games of the season. Sunderland would go on to make the play-off final after beating

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

3–2 on aggregate in the semi finals. They would go on to beat

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

2–1 in the play-off final to win promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, marking the Black Cats return to the Top Flight for the first time since

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Transfers

In

Out

Loaned in

Loaned out

Released / Out of Contract

Pre-season and friendlies

On 17 May, Sunderland announced their first slate of pre-season fixtures, against

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. A weeks training camp in

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

was later confirmed with a fixtures against Eldense and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

. On July 16, a final friendly was confirmed, against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Competitions

Championship

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches

On 26 June, the

fixtures were announced.

Play-offs

Sunderland finished 4th, in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

and were drawn against 5th place

=Semi-finals

=Final

FA Cup

Sunderland entered the FA Cup in the third round, and were drawn at home to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

EFL Cup

On 27 June, the draw for the first round was made, with Sunderland being drawn away against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

. They were beaten by Preston North End in that match and as a result were knocked out of the competition.

Statistics

Appearances and goals

, - , colspan="14", ''Player(s) who featured but departed the club on loan during the season:'' , - , colspan="14", ''Player(s) who featured but departed the club permanently during the season:''

Disciplinary record

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2024-25 Sunderland A.F.C. season Sunderland A.F.C. seasons

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1879, the club has won si ...