Kevin Tanza

The Internet Joke That Made Mexico Fall in Love with Sunderland Football Club

Football Culture, Premier League, Sunderland

Sunderland AFC from England is one of the teams that has just been promoted to the Premier League thanks to the playoffs they won after beating Sheffield United 2-1 in the final. It’s great to see them return to the top tier of English football after those troubled years of relegation and managerial changes that didn’t produce the expected results during the 2010s. Finally, after several years, today in 2025, they can finally say they’re a Premier League team again. In fact, they already won their first league match, which ended 3-0 in their favor against West Ham United, a mid-table team.

Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League brought with it many positive aspects, and among them is that the team has been able to sign several players who can undoubtedly make a difference and prevent a possible relegation, which, despite having started off winning in the league, remains a possibility as they are a newly promoted team.

Among the players who recently joined the team are Habib Diarra, Enzo Le Fée, Reinildo Mandava, Nordi Mukiele, and Granit Xhaka, who has now been appointed captain of the team, and many other more. Marc Guiu also arrived from Chelsea on loan, but he is a good acquisition. Without a shadow of a doubt, Sunderland AFC have spent a good money during the summer.

It’s worth noting that Sunderland AFC is a Premier League team that doesn’t currently have any Mexican players, nor does it plan to sign one in the transfer market.

We mention this about the Mexicans because in Sunderland AFC’s last match against West Ham United, it was clear that the team is receiving a lot of support from the Mexican people. This unusual support has surprised the team’s fans and English football fans in general, and many are wondering why Mexican fans now support Sunderland and why this team has become so popular in that country.

The usual thing would be for a Mexican football player to play for this team, but as we said before, that is not the case. In fact, everything started as a internet joke that snowballed into something real. The joke started on a post from Pasión Celeste on X where they asked Mexican football fans to support a random European team so that the fans of said team would get confused.

And after this, the page would choose Sunderland as the club they would support as a joke and also to joke with the team’s fans, as seen on the team’s official website.

The funniest thing is that the Mexicans achieved their goal, as the vast majority of Sunderland AFC fans are completely confused about it and are posting it on X. The trolling certainly paid off. But it’s not trolling, as no one was harmed; in fact, the team appreciates it.

The important thing is that the team has appreciated this support and they thank all the Mexican fans for their passion and following.

It is one of those little, wonderful things that only football can achieve.

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