From sports stars to TV personalities and musicians to local heroes, the Black Cats have a number of famous fans – including some surprising and international names.
Over the years, we have seen many celebrities come out and publicly announce their support of the Wearside club. Here, we take a look at 20 surprising famous faces who support Sunderland AFC:
1. Billy Hardy
Sunderland-born Billy Hardy is a former bantamweight and featherweight boxing champion. Unfortunately, Hardy never captured a world title but did fight all-time great Prince Naseem Hamed in a high-profile bout. Photo: Mark Thompson
2. Paul Collingwood
The England cricket star-turned-coach was born in County Durham and has been a long-standing supporter of the Black Cats. Photo: Gareth Copley
3. Steve Cram
Known as the 'Jarrow Arrow', Cram is an avid Sunderland fan - and regularly supports the club's charity arm, the Foundation of Light. Photo: Ian Walton
![The football manager, who went onto take charge at the Stadium of Light later in his career, was a Sunderland fan growing up. He recently stated: "I was growing up as a kid, don’t know where it came from probably because Charlie Hurley played for them, I was a big Sunderland fanatic. So I went to Sunderland as a manager based on this romantic notion of where Sunderland were based, the crowds that they got at the old stadium, which was Roker Park. They’d not moved to the Stadium of Light when I was up there [as a fan]. This idea that ‘do you want Sunderland to be all the things when you were supporting them’ that they never were."](https://www.sunderlandecho.com/webimg/b25lY21zOmFhYzM4MjFhLTY1NGQtNDUzNi1hOGZhLTg0N2FjYTg5YzE4NjpjMWQxMTJmNC0zOWFiLTQ1NDItODdmMS03OGNmNThjNGFjOWM=.jpg?crop=3:2&width=640)
4. Martin O'Neill
The football manager, who went onto take charge at the Stadium of Light later in his career, was a Sunderland fan growing up. He recently stated: "I was growing up as a kid, don’t know where it came from probably because Charlie Hurley played for them, I was a big Sunderland fanatic. So I went to Sunderland as a manager based on this romantic notion of where Sunderland were based, the crowds that they got at the old stadium, which was Roker Park. They’d not moved to the Stadium of Light when I was up there [as a fan]. This idea that ‘do you want Sunderland to be all the things when you were supporting them’ that they never were." Photo: Ross Kinnaird