The 2024–25 season was the 146th season in the history of Sunderland Association Football Club and their third consecutive season in the Championship. The club participated in the Championship, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup.
Despite Sunderland starting the season with 9 wins from their first 12 games to put them on top of the table, a run of 5 draws and 1 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 3–2 on aggregate in the semi finals. They would go on to beat Sheffield United 2–1 in the play-off final to win promotion to the Premier League, marking the Black Cats return to the top-flight for the first time since 2017.
Transfers In DatePos.PlayerFromFeeRef. 1 July 2024 GK Simon Moore Coventry City Free 11 July 2024 CM Alan Browne Preston North End Free 24 July 2024 RW Ian Poveda Leeds United Free 29 July 2024 DM Elias Lenz RB Leipzig Free 2 August 2024 GK Blondy Nna Noukeu Stoke City Free 30 August 2024 AM Milan Aleksić FK Radnički 1923 Undisclosed 30 August 2024 ST Ahmed Abdullahi KAA Gent Undisclosed 24 September 2024 ST Aaron Connolly Hull City Free 1 February 2025 ST Wilson Isidor Zenit Saint Petersburg Undisclosed
Out DatePos.PlayerToFeeRef. 18 June 2024 GK Alex Bass Notts County Undisclosed 8 August 2024 AM Elliot Embleton Blackpool Undisclosed 24 August 2024 LW Jack Clarke Ipswich Town Undisclosed 9 March 2025 LW Jewison Bennette LNZ Cherkasy Undisclosed
Loaned in DatePos.PlayerFromDate untilRef. 23 August 2024 ST Wilson Isidor Zenit Saint Petersburg End of Season 30 August 2024 CB Chris Mepham AFC Bournemouth End of Season 30 August 2024 DM Salis Abdul Samed Lens End of Season 10 January 2025 CM Enzo Le Fée Roma End of Season 3 February 2025ST Jayden Danns LiverpoolEnd of Season
Loaned out DatePos.PlayerToDate untilRef. 1 July 2024 GK Nathan Bishop Wycombe Wanderers 3 February 2025 18 July 2024 GK Matty Young Salford City End of Season 2 August 2024 LB Oliver Bainbridge Kilmarnock 10 January 2025 8 August 2024 CM Jay Matete Bolton Wanderers End of Season 23 August 2024 CM Ben Middlemas South Shields 22 September 2024 30 August 2024 DM Pierre Ekwah Saint-Étienne End of Season 30 August 2024 RB Timothée Pembélé Le Havre End of Season 30 August 2024 CB Nectarios Triantis Hibernian End of Season 31 August 2024 ST Luís Semedo Juventus Next Gen End of Season 20 September 2024 GK Adam Richardson Hebburn Town 19 October 2024 17 October 2024 AM Caden Kelly Darlington 31 January 2025 7 November 2024 GK Adam Richardson Blyth Spartans 31 January 2025 22 November 2024 CB Ben Crompton Tamworth End of Season 13 January 2025 CB Zak Johnson Notts County End of Season 25 January 2025 ST Nazariy Rusyn Hajduk Split End of Season 31 January 2025 AM Adil Aouchiche Portsmouth End of Season 3 February 2025 RM Abdoullah Ba Dunkerque End of Season 3 February 2025 GK Nathan Bishop Cambridge United End of Season 13 March 2025 GK Dan Cameron Hebburn Town End of Season
Released / Out of Contract DatePos.PlayerSubsequent clubJoin dateRef. 30 June 2024 LW Jack Diamond Stockport County 1 July 2024 30 June 2024 LW Michael Spellman Newport County 2 July 2024 30 June 2024 LB Connor Pye Bury 16 July 2024 30 June 2024 RM Ellis Taylor Harrogate Town 16 July 2024 30 June 2024 LB Kailem Beattie Heaton Stannington 24 July 2024 30 June 2024 CB Henry Fieldson Queen's Park 9 August 2024 30 June 2024 LW Joe Ryder High Point Panthers 9 August 2024 30 June 2024 AM Bradley Dack Gillingham 15 August 2024 30 June 2024 ST Harry Gardiner Blyth Spartans 25 August 2024 30 June 2024 RB Callum Wilson Rushall Olympic 13 September 2024 30 June 2024 RW Ben Creamer Bishop Auckland 18 September 2024 30 June 2024 RB Jayden Sekete Darlington 27 September 2024 30 June 2024 CM Corry Evans Bradford City 6 October 2024 30 June 2024 CM Tom Chiabi 30 June 2024 LW Daniel Obolo 16 January 2025 ST Aaron Connolly Millwall 16 January 2025
Pre-season and friendlies On 17 May, Sunderland announced their first slate of pre-season fixtures, against South Shields, Gateshead, Blackpool and Bradford City. A weeks training camp in Alicante was later confirmed with a fixtures against Eldense and Nottingham Forest. On July 16, a final friendly was confirmed, against Marseille in Bradford.
Competitions Championship
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches The league fixtures were announced on 26 June 2024.
Play-offs
Sunderland finished 4th, in the regular season and were drawn against 5th place Coventry City.
Semi-finals
Final
FA Cup
Sunderland entered the FA Cup in the third round, and were drawn at home to Stoke City.
EFL Cup
On 27 June, the draw for the first round was made, with Sunderland being drawn away against Preston North End. 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
Rank Name Championship FA Cup EFL Cup Championship Play-Offs Total 1 32 DF Trai Hume 11 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 12= 7 MF Jobe Bellingham 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 1 26 DF Chris Mepham 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 14= 11 MF Chris Rigg 8 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 18 FW Wilson Isidor 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 06= 10 FW Patrick Roberts 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 13 MF Luke O'Nien 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 08 3 DF Dennis Cirkin 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 09 4 MF Dan Neil 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 010 33 DF Leo Hjelde 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 011= 1 GK Anthony Patterson 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 5 DF Daniel Ballard 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 013= 12 FW Eliezer Mayenda 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 28 MF Enzo Le Fée 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 36 MF Ian Poveda 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 40 FW Tom Watson 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 42 DF Aji Alese 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 018= 8 MF Alan Browne 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 14 FW Romaine Mundle 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 15 FW Nazariy Rusyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 21 GK Simon Moore 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 30 MF Milan Aleksić 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 45 DF Joe Anderson 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 50 MF Harrison Jones 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Total 100 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 103 1 3
References