Sunderland Trivia
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56 free Sunderland trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Sunderland were founded by a schoolmaster for fellow teachers, won three titles in their first five League seasons, and have spent more years in the top flight than almost anyone. This quiz walks the whole history: the Team of All Talents and Ned Doig's clean sheets, the 9-1 derby of 1908, Jimmy Thorpe's tragic death and the rule it changed, Raich Carter's 1936 champions, the Bank of England club, the 1958 first-ever relegation, Ian Porterfield and Jim Montgomery at Wembley in 1973, the Swindon back-door promotion of 1990, Peter Reid, Kevin Phillips's Golden Shoe, the 15- and 19-point seasons, Niall Quinn and Roy Keane, Netflix's 'Til I Die, League One and the 2025 play-off final. Early questions suit anyone who has sung 'Ha'way the lads'; later ones are for supporters who know their Fulwell End from their Roker End: which ground first charged admission, what stands on the crest beside the Penshaw Monument, which Dutch club Wearside shipbuilders befriended, and which Portuguese ground shares the stadium's name. Good for a supporters' club night or a Wearside pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the club, its grounds and its records, and each question shows its source.
30 of 56 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Sunderland were founded around 1880 by James Allan as a club for which group of people?
Teachers
Teachers: founder James Allan taught at Hendon Board School, and in October 1880 the club opened to non-teachers and dropped the word from its name.
Q 02Football League founder William McGregor called Sunderland the 'Team of All Talents' after a 7-2 win over which club, his own?
Aston Villa
Aston Villa: McGregor, a Villa committee man, said in 1890 that Sunderland had 'a talented man in every position', and they won three League titles in the next five years.
Q 03In 1892-93 Sunderland became the first team to do what in a Football League season?
Score 100 goals
Score 100 goals: Sunderland hit the century in a 30-match season while retaining the title in 1892-93, and no League side matched it until 1919-20.
Q 04After their 1895 title, Sunderland beat which Edinburgh club, then Scottish champions, in a so-called 'World Championship' match?
Hearts
Hearts (Heart of Midlothian) lost 5-3 at Tynecastle in April 1895 to a Sunderland line-up made up entirely of Scottish players.
Q 05Sunderland's first manager left in 1896 for which Merseyside club, where he won two more League titles?
Liverpool
Liverpool doubled his salary to £300 a year to lure him from Wearside, and his titles there in 1901 and 1906 made him the first manager to win the League with two clubs.
Q 06Sunderland's record league win, a 9-1 derby rout in December 1908, came away at which ground?
St James' Park
St James' Park: Sunderland beat Newcastle United 9-1 there on 5 December 1908, Billy Hogg and George Holley both scoring hat-tricks, yet Newcastle still ended the season as champions.
Q 07League champions Sunderland lost the 1913 FA Cup final at which London venue?
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace: more than 120,000 watched Tommy Barber score the only goal there, so the champions missed the Double by losing to the very side that finished second to them in the League.
Q 08Whose 43 goals in 42 games in 1928-29 set Sunderland's record for a single season?
Dave Halliday
Dave Halliday, bought in 1925 to replace Charlie Buchan, hit 43 league goals in 1928-29; a year earlier his 35 had only just kept Sunderland up, by a single point.
Q 09Which two Sunderland players scored 31 goals each in the 109-goal 1935-36 title season?
Raich Carter and Bobby Gurney
Raich Carter and Bobby Gurney hit 31 league goals apiece in a 109-goal title season, though the champions also let in 74, and a year later both men scored in the FA Cup final.
Q 10The 1936 death of Sunderland goalkeeper Jimmy Thorpe prompted which rule change?
Kicking a held ball was banned
Kicking a held ball was banned: Thorpe was kicked while holding the ball against Chelsea and died four days later; when Sunderland won the title that spring, his medal went to his widow.
Q 11Sunderland won their first FA Cup in 1937 by beating which club, whose side included Bill Shankly?
Preston North End
Preston North End: Sunderland came from 1-0 down at half-time to win 3-1 at Wembley on 1 May 1937, Eddie Burbanks scoring the third, for the club's first FA Cup.
Q 12Ivor Broadis's 1949 move from Carlisle to Sunderland made him the first in football to do what?
Transfer himself as manager
Transfer himself as manager: Carlisle's player-manager arranged his own £18,000 sale in 1949, picking Sunderland over other suitors because, he said, they treated players the best.
Q 13Sunderland's 1950s nickname 'the Bank of England club' referred to what?
Q 21Sunderland's 105 points in 1998-99 stood as an English league record until which club reached 106?
Reading
Reading took 106 points in the 2005-06 Championship, passing the 105 that Peter Reid's Sunderland won a year after losing a play-off final on penalties.
Q 22Which Sunderland striker won the European Golden Shoe in 1999-2000 with 30 goals?
Kevin Phillips
Kevin Phillips, released by his first club and once a non-league player at Baldock Town, scored 30 Premier League goals in 1999-2000 to become the first Englishman to win the Golden Shoe.
Q 23Which former player headed the Drumaville Consortium that bought Sunderland in 2006 and hired Roy Keane?
Niall Quinn
Heavy spending in the transfer market
Heavy spending in the transfer market: Sunderland broke the British transfer record twice around 1950, yet the expensive side never won a trophy and was relegated in 1958.
Q 14Who volleyed the only goal of Sunderland's 1973 FA Cup final win over Leeds?
Ian Porterfield
Ian Porterfield cushioned a corner on his thigh and volleyed in with his right foot, and Second Division Sunderland held on to beat the Cup holders 1-0.
Q 15Which two Second Division clubs have won the FA Cup since Sunderland's 1973 triumph?
Southampton (1976) and West Ham (1980)
Southampton (1976) and West Ham (1980): Bobby Stokes' late goal sank Manchester United and Trevor Brooking's header beat Arsenal, both strong First Division favourites, as Leeds had been in 1973.
Q 16In the 1973-74 Cup Winners' Cup, Sunderland beat Vasas before losing to which Lisbon club?
Sporting CP
Sporting CP: after a 2-1 win at Roker Park, Sunderland lost the second leg 2-0 in Lisbon and went out 3-2 on aggregate in the second round.
Q 17Which 1985 League Cup final opponent later shared a 'Friendship Trophy' with Sunderland?
Norwich City
Norwich City beat Sunderland 1-0 in the 1985 Milk Cup final through a Gordon Chisholm own goal, and the friendly mixing of both sets of fans led to the Friendship Trophy.
Q 18Why were Sunderland promoted in 1990 despite losing the play-off final?
The winners were demoted over payments
The winners were demoted over payments: ten days after beating Sunderland 1-0, Swindon were punished for 35 irregular payments, so Sunderland went up in their place, only to drop straight back down in 1991.
Q 19The Stadium of Light was built on the site of what?
Monkwearmouth Colliery
Monkwearmouth Colliery, a deep pit that closed in 1993, occupied the riverside site, and a colliery wheel at the top of the 1997 club crest recalls it.
Q 20Which member of the royal family opened Sunderland's Stadium of Light in 1997?
Prince Andrew
Prince Andrew performed the official opening in 1997; the ground's name was revealed only hours before its first match, a 0-0 draw with Ajax that July.
Niall Quinn, the club's former striker, fronted the Irish Drumaville Consortium's 2006 takeover, briefly managed the side himself, then appointed Roy Keane, who won the Championship in his first season.
Q 24Which Ghana international did Sunderland sign for a then club-record £13 million in 2010?
Asamoah Gyan
Asamoah Gyan arrived from Rennes in August 2010 for about £13 million, a club record, yet barely a year later he had left on loan for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates.
Q 25Which Italian was controversially appointed Sunderland manager in March 2013?
Paolo Di Canio
Paolo Di Canio's appointment on 31 March 2013 led vice-chairman David Miliband to resign over the Italian's past political statements; he kept Sunderland up, then was sacked that September after 13 games.
Q 26Gus Poyet's Sunderland lost the 2014 League Cup final 3-1 to which club?
Manchester City
Manchester City came from behind at Wembley on 2 March 2014 after Fabio Borini's early goal, Yaya Touré and Samir Nasri scoring before Jesús Navas added a late third.
Q 27Which manager left Sunderland in July 2016 to take the England job?
Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce lasted 67 days as England manager after leaving the Stadium of Light in July 2016; David Moyes succeeded him at Sunderland and the club was relegated that season.
Q 28Jordan Pickford's 2017 £30 million move from Sunderland to Everton was then a record fee for what?
A British goalkeeper
A British goalkeeper: the £25 million fee, rising to £30 million, bought a Sunderland academy product who had been sent out on loan six times, starting at non-league Darlington.
Q 29Netflix's first 'Sunderland 'Til I Die' series followed a season that ended how?
Relegation
Relegation: filming began in 2017 in the hope of a promotion push, but Sunderland sank into League One under Simon Grayson and Chris Coleman, their second straight drop.
Q 30In December 2018 Sunderland set a League One attendance record against which club?
Bradford City
Bradford City: 46,039 watched the Boxing Day 2018 game, a League One record, so a third-tier fixture drew the biggest league crowd in English football outside the Premier League that season.