The millions of miles travelling Sunderland fans will rack up compared to Leeds United & Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland supporters travel more miles than any other fanbase in the EFL, according to newly-collected data.

The Black Cats embarked on an 800-mile round trip to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon, and came away bitterly disappointed having conceded a decisive stoppage time goal that brought to an end their perfect start to the new Championship season. Nevertheless, Regis Le Bris’ side played in front of a packed out away end at Home Park, and will likely do so in most of their fixtures away from the Stadium of Light this season.

According to Bristol Street Motors, no club boasts a more dedicated travelling support in the entirety of the Football League than Sunderland. By estimating that the Black Cats will take some 60,000 fans to away grounds over the course of the season, and that each fan will rack up the equivalent of around 4,900 miles, the analysts claim that, in total, Mackems will travel around 294 million miles this season.

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Second in the table are last weekend’s opponents Plymouth, who are expected to record the highest miles per fan tally of any club in the EFL at around 6,000, but whose smaller total travelling fanbase of 43,000 gives them an overall collective miles of 258 million. In third place are Leeds United, with 202 million miles.

Rounding out the top five are Middlesbrough, who make the comparatively short trip to the Stadium of Light this coming Saturday, and Sheffield Wednesday, with 185 million miles and 180 million miles respectively. Sixth spot is taken by newly-promoted Portsmouth, who, much like Plymouth, face plenty of gruelling away days from the south coast in the coming months. Beneath Pompey are Norwich City, with 158 million miles - six million less than their divisional rivals.

The final Championship club in the top 10 are Coventry City, with 143 million miles, while the rest of the list is completed by League One outfits Bolton Wanderers (132 million miles) and Birmingham City (130 million miles). For their part, Sunderland’s next away day will be the roughly 500 mile round trip to Watford on September 28th.