# Friendship Trophy

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 March 2024, when the teams played at Carrow Road in the EFL Championship. Norwich won 1–0 in that match, though Sunderland won 3–2 on aggregate due to their 3–1 victory at the Stadium of Light in October 2023.
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.
In 2013, Talksport named The Friendship Trophy one of football's most pointless awards.

## Head to head summary

| Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | +/- |
| League ||||||||
| Norwich City | 29 | 15 | 5 | 9 | 32 | 29 | +3 |
| Sunderland | 29 | 9 | 5 | 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 | 32 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 34 | 34 | +0 |
| Sunderland | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 34 | 34 | +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 City | EFL Championship |
| 2 March 2024 | Norwich City | 1–0 | Sunderland | EFL Championship |
| 21 December 2024 | Sunderland | 2–1 | Norwich City | EFL Championship |