I forgot all about the Europa League draw and Sunderland.
Friday seeing the Mackems discover their opponents in the competition.
Sunderland fans no doubt dreaming of welcoming to Wearside the likes of Juventus, Marseille, Lyon, Olympiakos, AC Milan, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen…
I have now belatedly checked up.
The reality instead is that it will be Jagiellonia (apparently a club in Poland), Levski Sofia, AZ Alkmaar and Dinamo Zagreb that will be visiting Sunderland in the Europa League.
As for away trips, there will finally be the chance to spot a Mackem in Milan. However, even in a 75,000+ capacity stadium the reality is that these days away fans only get a maximum of around 4,000 tickets, as home clubs are only obliged by UEFA rules to give 5% of capacity to visiting supporters. Very different to that astonishing 2003 trip when 13,000+ Newcastle United fans were inside the San Siro to see Alan Shearer score twice when Inter Milan fluked a 2-2 Champions League draw.
The Mackems will also play Anderlecht (a capacity of just over 20k and so maybe getting around 2k tickets), Lech Poznan and Torreense. Turns out the latter are second tier minnows in Portugal who somehow won their domestic cup despite having a stadium capacity of less than 2,500. They will have to play their Europa League matches a couple of hundred miles away in Faro. Sunderland fans will at least be living their dream of taking over at a European away venue and city, but this will be outnumbering a Portuguese village team that has to play their home matches 200 miles away! A bit like if that village on Wearside saw their club having to play European home matches at Villa Park!
The glamour of Europe as all of these extra matches against elite clubs are set to wreck their Premier League season.
Of course I would have loved Newcastle United to be enjoying a 19th season of European competition but at the same time, Sunderland fans having to wait 53 years since their only previous very brief excursion into Europe and then landing this set of opposition clubs is hilarious, especially the opponents at home.
Time for a history of European football, the involvement of North East clubs down the years….
So what has been the previous experience of our region when it comes to European football throughout the history of the big three North East clubs?
Well, I have gone back through the seasons and produced the findings below.
Including all matches played in the Champions League (previously known as the European Cup), Europa League (previously the Fairs Cup and then UEFA Cup), Cup Winners Cup, Europa Conference League and Intertoto.
I did though draw the line at including the likes of the Anglo-Italian…
European football history of the North East (up to 28 August 2026):
Total number of matches played
Newcastle United – 152
Middlesbrough – 25
Sunderland – 4
Trophies won
Newcastle United – 1
Middlesbrough – 0
Sunderland – 0
Number of seasons playing in European football
Newcastle United – 18
Middlesbrough – 2
Sunderland – 1
Breakdown of seasons when playing European football
Newcastle United
1968/69
1969/70
1970/71
1977/78
1994/95
1996/97
1997/98
1998/99
1999/2000
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2012/13
2023/24
2025/26
Middlesbrough
2004/05
2005/06
Sunderland
1973/74
As somebody who been lucky enough to go on a canny few European away trips to the likes of Barcelona (Three times), Marseille, Inter Milan, AC Milan, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco. Metz, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and so on, incredible memories.
From the pioneers of the Fairs Cup days in the 1960s, then also the 1970s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and the 2020s, Newcastle United fans experiencing the magic of European football away days.
Yes, I know a number of other English clubs have seen their fans have even more opportunities but not that many other fanbases have had that luck.
Our Mackem mates have had more seasons in the third tier (five) than they have previously had games in European football (four).
Up to this point in history, Newcastle United have played Barcelona more times (seven) in Champions League matches than Sunderland have played European games (four) against all opposition, in their entire history.
Sunderland though will now close the gap on Newcastle United, by the end of the 2026/27 season the Mackems will have played eight Europa League matches to take their total up to 12, 140 adrift of the 152 Newcastle United figure (and 13 adrift of Boro’s 25).
Even if Sunderland somehow went all the way and won the Europa League this season, they would still have played fewer European matches than the Smoggies.
With the number of English clubs qualifying for Europe getting ever higher, I suppose in some ways it was all but inevitable that one day the Mackems would manage it. Bournemouth and Sunderland joining the likes of Crystal Palace and Brighton in reaching Europe in the modern day football landscape.
For Newcastle United, simply a case of taking care of our own business. Ensuring that 2027/28 will see United building further on their 152 European match record…