The Friendship Trophy is a football match, contested on an irregular basis by just two teams: Norwich City and Sunderland. 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.
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”.
Nowadays, the Friendship Trophy is awarded to the team with the winning aggregate score in competitive matches over the season between the two sides.
The trophy was most recently contested in April 2025, when the teams played at Carrow Road in the EFL Championship. The match was a 0-0 draw, with Sunderland having won 2-1 at the Stadium of Light in December 2024.
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. 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.Sunderland and Norwich City is always a TV favourite, Norwich Evening News, 15 March 2013Road To Wembley: Reliving Sunderland’s action-packed run towards the 1992 FA Cup Final, Roker Report, SB Nation, 24 May 2019
Head to head summary
Club P W D L F A +/- League Norwich City 30 14 7 9 32 29 +3 Sunderland 30 9 6 15 29 32 –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 33 16 6 11 34 34 +0 Sunderland 33 11 6 16 34 34 +0
Head-to-head fixtures DateHome teamScoreAway teamCompetition24 March 1985Norwich City1–0SunderlandFootball League Cup26 October 1985Sunderland0–2Norwich CityFootball League, Second Division9 April 1986Norwich City0–0SunderlandFootball League, Second Division25 August 1990Norwich City3–2SunderlandFootball League, First Division15 December 1990Sunderland1–2Norwich CityFootball League, First Division5 April 1992Sunderland1–0Norwich CityFA Cup19 August 1995Norwich City0–0SunderlandFootball League First Division14 January 1996Sunderland0–1Norwich CityFootball League First Division30 August 1997Sunderland0–1Norwich CityFootball League First Division28 January 1998Norwich City2–1SunderlandFootball League First Division29 September 1998Norwich City2–2SunderlandFootball League First Division6 March 1999Sunderland1–0Norwich CityFootball League First Division25 October 2003Norwich City1–0SunderlandFootball League First Division4 May 2004Sunderland1–0Norwich CityFootball League First Division4 November 2006Norwich City1–0SunderlandFootball League Championship2 December 2006Sunderland1–0Norwich CityFootball League Championship24 August 2009Norwich City1–4SunderlandFootball League Cup26 September 2011Norwich City2–1SunderlandPremier League1 February 2012Sunderland3–0Norwich CityPremier League2 December 2012Norwich City2–1SunderlandPremier League17 March 2013Sunderland1–1Norwich CityPremier League21 December 2013Sunderland0–0Norwich CityPremier League22 March 2014Norwich City2–0SunderlandPremier League15 August 2015Sunderland1–3Norwich CityPremier League16 April 2016Norwich City0–3SunderlandPremier League13 August 2017Norwich City1–3SunderlandEFL Championship10 April 2018Sunderland1–1Norwich CityEFL Championship27 August 2022Sunderland0–1Norwich CityEFL Championship12 March 2023Norwich City0–1SunderlandEFL Championship28 October 2023Sunderland3–1Norwich CityEFL Championship2 March 2024Norwich City1–0SunderlandEFL Championship21 December 2024Sunderland2–1Norwich CityEFL Championship8 April 2025Norwich City0–0SunderlandEFL Championship
References