Four years ago, Sunderland beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-0 in the League One play-off final at Wembley Stadium to begin a journey few could have predicted.
But it was not until Regis le Bris arrived in 2024 after sixth-place and 16th-place finishes in the Championship that their trajectory really changed.
In the French head coach’s first season in charge, Sunderland finished 24 points behind Burnley and Leeds in the automatic promotion spots and managed just 58 goals in 46 games.
They required an injury-time winner to edge past Coventry City in the play-off semi-final and were clear underdogs in the final against Sheffield United.
But the Black Cats came from behind at Wembley, scoring another injury-time winner through Tom Watson to secure a Premier League return for the first time in eight years.
Exactly one year later, Sunderland are sitting pretty among the elite.
Not many expected Sunderland to survive in the top flight, never mind thrive.
In each of the previous two campaigns, all three promoted teams were relegated straight back to the Championship.
But Le Bris’ side bucked the trend and have gone neck-and-neck against the more established sides.
“It’s a massive collective achievement,” Le Bris said.
“What we showed last season and this was being together. We can be ambitious, but we have to work hard. The fans are really important – they are a huge part of this club. It’s a community and we are proud to represent them.”
Sunderland finished seventh with 54 points – just six behind Liverpool in the Champions League places – after 14 wins, 12 draws and 12 defeats.
Their tally is the most by a newly promoted side since Leeds United in 2020-21 (59 points), while their seventh-place finish is the best by a newly promoted team since Wolves in 2018-19 (seventh).
They are also only the 10th newly promoted Premier League side to qualify for Europe and just the fifth to do so via a league finish after Newcastle (1993-94), Nottingham Forest (1994-95), Ipswich Town (2000-01) and Wolves (2018-19).
The win over Chelsea on the final day completed a league double over the Blues.
Chelsea suffered the same fate as Sunderland’s north-east rivals Newcastle, who were beaten both home and away by the team led by Le Bris.
Sunderland also held champions Arsenal, runners-up Manchester City and Manchester United to creditable draws – to name but a few impressive results.
“The fortress that is the Stadium of Light, the atmosphere, picking up the amount of points that they have there is unbelievable,” said former England striker Ellen White on BBC Final Score.
“Those fans going away in Europe next season, they must be buzzing.”
