What do the people of Sunderland, England — a working-class port city along the wind-whipped coast of the North Sea, approximately 8,744 kilometers away from Mexico City — have in common with Mexican soccer fans? Absolutely everything, it turns out.
That’s because Sunderland Association Football Club is suddenly at the center of a bizarre if not lovable trend among Mexico’s passionate fanbase and is, inexplicably, Mexico’s European team of choice this season. Currently, thousands of Mexican fans (many of whom have presumably never been to, or even heard of, the metropolitan borough in the United Kingdom before adopting the team) are flooding the team’s social media channels with declarations of loyalty, support and unwavering zeal — followed by a parade of Mexican flag emojis:
Mexican fans throw their support behind Sunderland AFC
The comments have provoked Sunderland AFC fan accounts into asking Mexican fans if they’re joking or serious. The responses have been equally comical, with countless Mexican fans responding that they’re eternally committed to Sunderland and aren’t going anywhere. One Mexico fan broke the cadence of Spanish with an attempt at English, responding with a grammatically incorrect but heartfelt “is forever mate 🇲🇽.”
It all started as a farce on August 16 when Pasion Celeste, a Cruz Azul fan account on X (formerly Twitter) proposed that Mexican soccer aficionados collectively pick a random team in Europe to fully support: “What do you think if with this start to the European League, all of [Mexico’s] football Twitter grabs an underdog team to support and follow, only for the European club to say, ‘What the hell, why are all of these Mexicans supporting us?’”
So far, it has worked. After voting on relatively unknown teams to choose from, the online assortment of Mexican fans landed on Sunderland — a once historic club that for the past eight years has played in the English lower leagues but has just ascended to the top-flight English Premier League. The message was quickly amplified when a soccer fan account, Somos Analistas, made an official declaration in support of Sunderland, encouraging all of Mexico to back the far-flung, relatively obscure team. The post has since received over two million views, 24,000 re-posts and hundreds of comments pledging Mexican fealty.
Sunderland is staggering under Mexican kit requests
Upon happening, the official Sunderland AFC Instagram account began fielding a mix of requests, questions and steady engagement from Mexican fans. The online team store sold out of most of their jerseys, with Mexican fans asking where they could find more. The spike in Mexican fandom certainly raised curiosity among other fans, as many asked about the connection between Mexico and Sunderland. Mexican fans responded quite facetiously with Spanish comments that translate roughly into “it’s something you’re born with” and “I’ve been a Sunderland fan since the cradle.” Even a few nascent fan accounts like Sunderland Mexico have already sprung up to share Sunderland news in Spanish.
“A bit more awareness of the club around the world is great, and if our club and our history can resonate with more than just the local area, it can only be positive for us and football as a whole,” says lifelong Sunderland fan Sean Mountain. “As a club, we’re likable and already have a massive international fan base. Viva México, cabrones.”
It couldn’t have happened at a better time for Sunderland, who kicked off their triumphant return to the Premier League with a dominant, season-opening win against West Ham United. Prior to this campaign, the Black Cats (or Gatos Negros, as Mexican fans have been calling them) were relegated out of England’s major league circuit for nearly a decade. Sunderland itself isn’t a particularly destination-worthy city in the world of European football, either. What with London, Milan, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Munich, Madrid, Istanbul and various other European epicenters boasting rich traditions and proven excellence. Sunderland lacks the sheer star power of many other European units, too. But that hasn’t stopped Mexican ultras from purchasing jerseys and celebrating the team’s quality players like Swiss captain Granit Xhaka, Spanish striker Eliezer Mayenda, and Mozambican defender Reinildo Mandava.
Sunderland’s players return the love from Mexico
View this post on Instagram
About a week after the Mexican fans stormed their way into Sunderland’s ranks, the team’s social media director conducted a video with a selection of players on the team in which the players (none of whom speak Spanish) welcomed Mexico and its fans by answering basic questions about Mexico’s history, culture and soccer legacy. The team’s official accounts posted the video with a playful “¡Vamos, Muchachos!”. Shortly after, Sunderland’s fans decided to return the favor to Mexico and randomly picked a team of their own — Nexaca, a first-division team based in Aguascalientes that was recently purchased by Mexican actress Eva Longoria — to support. Perhaps the pick wasn’t as random, since Necaxa coincidentally shares Sunderland’s colors of red and white, but still, it’s the sentiment that counts.
There’s a surreal magic that can transpire on the canvas of a soccer pitch. At times logic-defying, the sport has a way of breeding the irrational, the inexplicable, the fantastic. Though it may not always seem obvious for the casual observer, soccer allows for a border-traversing artistry, a fluid interconnection among those as distant as Mexicans and Brits.
Perhaps nothing sums it all up better than Sunderland AFC themselves, who formally welcomed their Mexican fans on the internet with a blend of Spanish and Mackem vernacular: “¡Hola, Mexico! We’re proud to have your passion with us this season — Ha’way the Lads!”
Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.
