Friendship Trophy
LocationNorwich and Sunderland
TeamsNorwich City
Sunderland
First meeting24 March 1985
Latest meetingSunderland 3-1 Norwich
2023-24 EFL Championship
(28 October 2023)
Next meetingNorwich vs Sunderland
2023-24 EFL Championship
(2 March 2024)
Statistics
Meetings total30
Most winsNorwich City (15)
All-time seriesNorwich City: 6
Drawn: 2 (Sunderland retained)
Sunderland: 6 (including 2 solo cup wins)

The Friendship Trophy is a football match, contested on an irregular basis by just two teams: Norwich City and Sunderland.[1] The match dates back to the camaraderie forged between fans of the two clubs at the time of the 1985 Football League Cup Final that they contested. Norwich City won the 1985 Football League Cup Final, however at the end of the First Division Season, both teams were relegated to the Second Division.[2]

Mackem and Canary mingled and drank happily together. “The Sunderland supporters were magnificent and everyone seemed to mix, it was light-hearted and very nice,” judged Norwich manager Ken Brown after his team had lifted the trophy thanks to a Gordon Chisholm own goal. On the London Underground, Norwich fans sang “we won the cup”, while Sunderland’s retorted with: “we scored the goal”.[3]

Nowadays, the Friendship Trophy is awarded to the team with the winning aggregate score in competitive matches over the season between the two sides. As such, Sunderland are the current holders of the trophy, having won 4-2 over the two league games in the 2017/18 EFL Championship season.

The trophy was most recently contested in March 2023, when the teams played at Carrow Road, with Norwich carrying having a 1–0 advantage having beaten Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on 27 August 2022 in the EFL Championship, though ultimately following Sunderland's 1-0 victory at Carrow Road, the aggregate score stood at 1-1.[4]

This trophy is only infrequently contested, as it requires both Norwich City and Sunderland to be in the same division, or to be drawn together in a cup competition, which last happened in 2009, when Sunderland beat Norwich City 4–1 in the Football League Cup.[5] The most significant cup meeting after the 1985 final was the semi-final of the 1991–92 FA Cup at Hillsborough, which Sunderland won 1–0.[6][7]

In 2013, Talksport named The Friendship Trophy one of football's most pointless awards.[8]

Head to head summary

Club P W D L F A +/-
League
Norwich City 27 14 5 8 30 27 +3
Sunderland 27 8 5 14 27 30 –3
FA Cup
Norwich City 1 0 0 1 0 1 –1
Sunderland 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1
Football League Cup
Norwich City 2 1 0 1 2 4 –2
Sunderland 2 1 0 1 4 2 +2
Totals
Norwich City 30 15 5 10 32 32 +0
Sunderland 30 10 5 15 32 32 +0

Head-to-head fixtures

Date Home Team Score Away Team Competition
24 March 1985 Norwich City 1–0 Sunderland Football League Cup
26 October 1985 Sunderland 0–2 Norwich City Football League, Second Division
9 April 1986 Norwich City 0–0 Sunderland Football League, Second Division
25 August 1990 Norwich City 3–2 Sunderland Football League, First Division
15 December 1990 Sunderland 1–2 Norwich City Football League, First Division
5 April 1992 Sunderland 1–0 Norwich City FA Cup
19 August 1995 Norwich City 0–0 Sunderland Football League First Division
14 January 1996 Sunderland 0–1 Norwich City Football League First Division
30 August 1997 Sunderland 0–1 Norwich City Football League First Division
28 January 1998 Norwich City 2–1 Sunderland Football League First Division
29 September 1998 Norwich City 2–2 Sunderland Football League First Division
6 March 1999 Sunderland 1–0 Norwich City Football League First Division
25 October 2003 Norwich City 1–0 Sunderland Football League First Division
4 May 2004 Sunderland 1–0 Norwich City Football League First Division
4 November 2006 Norwich City 1–0 Sunderland Football League Championship
2 December 2006 Sunderland 1–0 Norwich City Football League Championship
24 August 2009 Norwich City 1–4 Sunderland Football League Cup
26 September 2011 Norwich City 2–1 Sunderland Premier League
1 February 2012 Sunderland 3–0 Norwich City Premier League
2 December 2012 Norwich City 2–1 Sunderland Premier League
17 March 2013 Sunderland 1–1 Norwich City Premier League
21 December 2013 Sunderland 0–0 Norwich City Premier League
22 March 2014 Norwich City 2–0 Sunderland Premier League
15 August 2015 Sunderland 1–3 Norwich City Premier League
16 April 2016 Norwich City 0–3 Sunderland Premier League
13 August 2017 Norwich City 1–3 Sunderland EFL Championship
10 April 2018 Sunderland 1–1 Norwich City EFL Championship
27 August 2022 Sunderland 0–1 Norwich City EFL Championship
12 March 2023 Norwich City 0–1 Sunderland EFL Championship
28 October 2023 Sunderland 3–1 Norwich EFL Championship

References

  1. ↑ Scott Wilson (24 August 2009). "Sunderland enjoy Carrow Road stroll". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  2. ↑ "Football League Division One /1984/85 /all teams /results". Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  3. ↑ House, Future Publishing Limited Quay; Ambury, The; Engl, Bath BA1 1UA All rights reserved; number 2008885, Wales company registration (15 April 2016). "What the heck is the Friendship Trophy? Football's oddest closed cup competitions". FourFourTwo.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ↑ "Norwich City 0-1 Sunderland, 12 March 2023". Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  5. ↑ "Norwich City v Sunderland, 24 August 2009". Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  6. ↑ Sunderland and Norwich City is always a TV favourite, Norwich Evening News, 15 March 2013
  7. ↑ Road To Wembley: Reliving Sunderland’s action-packed run towards the 1992 FA Cup Final, Roker Report, SB Nation, 24 May 2019
  8. ↑ "Football's most pointless awards". TalkSport. 12 November 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
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