Sunderland’s rapid rise has opened new markets, with World Cup exposure adding another major profile boost.
There are sentences that would have sounded absurd not so long ago. Sunderland having more players at the World Cup than Liverpool and Real Madrid is one of them.
That is not an attempt to place Sunderland anywhere near those clubs in global stature. Nobody serious would. Liverpool and Real Madrid live in a different commercial universe, built on decades of trophies, icons and reach. But the fact Sunderland can even sit in that comparison for a moment says plenty about how quickly the club’s profile has shifted.
This was a League One club recently, one with huge crowds and deep emotion, but not much international relevance beyond curiosity, nostalgia and Netflix. Now Sunderland are back in the Premier League, back in Europe and represented on the biggest international stage. That is a serious change of weather. Promotion through the play-offs gave Sunderland a story that travelled: late drama, Wembley noise, stoppage-time winners, and a huge club finally forcing its way back.
It was cinematic, but it was also useful. Football moves on feeling as much as logic, and Sunderland gave neutral audiences something to remember. Then came the real accelerator. Sunderland did not return to the Premier League to make up the numbers. Régis Le Bris’ side finished seventh, qualified for Europe and took points from Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal, while also beating Chelsea twice.
Results like that change more than a table. They change how a club is spoken about. The Premier League has changed since Sunderland were last here. It was already enormous in 2017, but the global machine has grown sharper, louder and faster. Clips travel within seconds. Every goal, celebration, upset and interview can land in feeds across continents before the players have reached the tunnel.
There was already curiosity. Sunderland ’Til I Die carried the club into homes around the world during a painful period, showing the humour, frustration, loyalty and chaos around Wearside. But the difference now is important. People are no longer watching a club fall apart; they are watching one move – and that shift in narrativity will naturally interest people. Neutrals want to see the rise after the fall.
Sunderland’s strength, though, is that it still feels real. The club’s best commercial asset is not one player or one campaign. It is the place itself. The noise, the hurt, the loyalty, the gallows humour, the stubbornness. In an increasingly polished football world, Sunderland has edges. Those edges are valuable. Authenticity is very much a unique selling point.
The Granit Xhaka effect has helped. He is a superstar. Signing a player of his standing was a statement, but the way he has played has made it bigger. Xhaka brings recognition, authority and credibility. He is not just a famous name passing through. He has become central to what Sunderland are building. That sort of signing makes supporters believe, but it also makes agents and players notice. Sunderland can now sell more than minutes and a pathway. They can sell Premier League football, Europe, a respected head coach, a brave team and proof that high-profile players can come to Wearside and thrive.
The World Cup adds another layer, and their international stars give Sunderland visibility across different continents and football cultures. Visibility compounds. A player appears in a match preview. His club is mentioned on a broadcast. A clip circulates. A social account posts a graphic. Someone looks Sunderland up. A child watches a player from their country wearing red and white every week. None of that turns Sunderland into a superpower, but it all factors into the equation.
European football will do the same. Sunderland will not only be seen through a Premier League lens next season. They will be placed in front of different audiences, different opponents and different markets. Thursday nights can do plenty for a club trying to stretch beyond its borders. The club know this. The upcoming tour of the United States is not just about fitness. It is about presence. It is about taking Sunderland into a market where the Premier League already has enormous traction and where the club has room to grow.
Ghana is another part of the picture. Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has shown a desire to strengthen Sunderland’s reach there again, and the logic is obvious. Sunderland had real popularity in Ghana more than a decade ago, when Asamoah Gyan, Sulley Muntari and John Mensah wore red and white. Those connections gave the club warmth in a football-mad country. Recapturing even part of that would be smart.
This is not just vanity. With football moving towards squad cost ratio rules, Sunderland’s ability to compete will depend on two things: good player trading and higher revenue. The first part has underpinned the model for years. Buy well, develop properly, improve the team and, when necessary, sell at the right time. That will remain important.
The second part is becoming just as vital. Sunderland cannot grow only through transfer profit. They need higher commercial income, sponsorship value, merchandise sales, matchday revenue and international reach. The bigger the audience, the more valuable the club becomes. The more valuable the club becomes, the more room there is to manoeuvre under rules that increasingly tie spending to income.
That is why these things matter. A United States tour matters. Ghana matters. World Cup players matter. European nights matter. They are not proof of global power, but they are tools for growth. There is a recruitment angle too. Players want to join clubs that feel alive. Sunderland can now offer noise, opportunity and momentum, not just potential. That is a different sell.
The balance is delicate. Some supporters are understandably wary of “tourists”, especially when local fans carried the club through years with little reward. That concern should not be sneered at. Sunderland’s local identity is not an obstacle to growth. It is the reason growth is possible. The danger would be chasing new audiences so hard that the club starts sanding away the things people came for in the first place. Sunderland should not become softer, blander or less rooted. It should travel as itself and maintain that authenticity.
Handled properly, there is something powerful about people from the United States, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Switzerland, Paraguay or Haiti finding a connection with Sunderland. It shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. It should be seen as something fundamentally good and exciting. Those of us from here have always known what the club can be. The rest of the world is getting a better view of it now.
A few years ago, Sunderland were fighting to escape League One. Now they have World Cup players, European football and a Premier League season behind them that made people look twice. Sunderland are not global giants. Not close. But they are more visible, more attractive and more commercially interesting than they were 18 months ago. That is progress, and in the modern game, progress has to be used.
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