2018–19 Sunderland A.F.C. season

Sunderland 2018–19
Club information
Manager	Jack Ross
Stadium	Stadium of Light
League Season information
Final League position	League One
Cup placements
FA Cup
EFL Cup
EFL Trophy
Season statistics
← 2017–18	2019–20 →

The 2018–19 season was Sunderland's 139th season in existence, and their first season in League One since 1987 after relegation from the Championship the previous season. Along with competing in League One, the club will also participate in the FA Cup and EFL Cup as well as the EFL Trophy. The season covered the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.

First team squad

Squad No.	Name	Nationality	Position(s)	Age	Ends	Signed from
Goalkeepers
25	Robbin Ruiter		GK	38	2019	Utrecht
32	Max Stryjek		GK	28	2019	Polonia Warsaw
—	Jon McLaughlin		GK	37	2020	Hearts
Defenders
3	Bryan Oviedo		LB	35	2020	Everton
5	Papy Djilobodji		CB	36	2020	Chelsea
21	Adam Matthews		RB	33	2019	Celtic
22	Donald Love		RB	30	2020	Manchester United
23	Lamine Koné		CB	36	2020	Lorient
—	Alim Öztürk		CB	32	2020	Boluspor
—	Tom Flanagan		CB	33	2020	Burton
—	Reece James		LB	31	2019	Wigan Athletic
Midfielders
6	Lee Cattermole (C)		DM	37	2021	Wigan Athletic
10	Wahbi Khazri		CM	34	2020	Bordeaux
13	Callum McManaman		LW	34	2019	West Brom
14	Duncan Watmore		RW	31	2020	Altrincham
17	Didier Ndong		CM	31	2021	Lorient
19	Aiden McGeady		LW	39	2020	Everton
26	George Honeyman		AM	30	2019	Academy
27	Lynden Gooch		AM	29	2019	Academy
28	Ethan Robson		CM	28	2020	Academy
40	Elliot Embleton		CM	26	2019	Academy
—	Chris Maguire		RW	36	2020	Bury
—	Dylan McGeouch		AM	32	2020	Hibernian
Forwards
20	Josh Maja		ST	26	2019	Manchester City
29	Joel Asoro		ST	26	2019	IF Brommapojkarna
50	Andrew Nelson		ST	27	2019	Academy

New contracts

No.	Pos	Player	Until
28	Midfielder	Ethan Robson	June 2020

Pre-season friendlies

As of 12 June 2018, Sunderland have announced four pre-season friendlies against Darlington, Hartlepool United, Grimsby Town, St Mirren. They then went on to announce a friendly with Middlesbrough at The Riverside Stadium after a plan to host the tie at the Stadium of Light fell through due to a clash with the Sunderland Air Show.

11 July 2018	Darlington	v	Sunderland	Darlington
19:30 BST				Stadium: Blackwell Meadows

14 July 2018	Hartlepool United	v	Sunderland	Hartlepool
15:00 BST				Stadium: Victoria Park

17 July 2018	Grimsby Town	v	Sunderland	Cleethorpes
19:30 BST				Stadium: Blundell Park

21 July 2018	St Mirren	v	Sunderland	Paisley, Scotland
15:00 BST				Stadium: St Mirren Park

Competitions

League One

Main article: 2018–19 EFL League One

League table

2018–19 Football League One table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Luton Town  (C) (P)	46	27	13	6	90	42	+48	94	Promotion to the Championship
2	Barnsley  (P)	46	26	13	7	80	39	+41	91
3	Charlton Athletic  (P) (O)	46	26	10	10	73	40	+33	88	Qualification to the League One play-offs
4	Portsmouth	46	25	13	8	83	51	+32	88
5	Sunderland	46	22	19	5	80	47	+33	85
6	Doncaster Rovers	46	20	13	13	76	58	+18	73
7	Peterborough United	46	20	12	14	71	62	+9	72
8	Coventry City	46	18	11	17	54	54	0	65
9	Burton Albion	46	17	12	17	66	57	+9	63
10	Blackpool	46	15	17	14	50	52	−2	62
11	Fleetwood Town	46	16	13	17	58	52	+6	61
12	Oxford United	46	15	15	16	58	64	−6	60
13	Gillingham	46	15	10	21	61	72	−11	55
14	Accrington Stanley	46	14	13	19	51	67	−16	55
15	Bristol Rovers	46	13	15	18	47	50	−3	54
16	Rochdale	46	15	9	22	54	87	−33	54
17	Wycombe Wanderers	46	14	11	21	55	67	−12	53
18	Shrewsbury Town	46	12	16	18	51	59	−8	52
19	Southend United	46	14	8	24	55	68	−13	50
20	AFC Wimbledon	46	13	11	22	42	63	−21	50
21	Plymouth Argyle  (R)	46	13	11	22	56	80	−24	50	Relegation to League Two
22	Walsall  (R)	46	12	11	23	49	71	−22	47
23	Scunthorpe United  (R)	46	12	10	24	53	83	−30	46
24	Bradford City  (R)	46	11	8	27	49	77	−28	41

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round; (Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament

Result summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Last updated: 22 April 2018
Source: BBC

Results by matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground
Result
Position

Last updated: 7 May 2018.
Source: BBC Sport
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Lose; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Matches

The fixtures for the 2018–19 season were released on 21 June 2018.

1 4 August 2018	Sunderland	v	Charlton Athletic	Sunderland
19:30 BST				Stadium: Stadium of Light

FA Cup

EFL Cup

Main article: 2018–19 EFL Cup

On 15 June 2018, the draw for the first round was made in Vietnam.

First round 13 August 2018 (2018-08-13)	Sunderland	v	Sheffield Wednesday	Sunderland
19:00 BST				Stadium: Stadium of Light

EFL Trophy