Meetings total 27 | First meeting 24 March 1985 | |
Teams Norwich CitySunderland Latest meeting Norwich City 0-3 Sunderland2015-16 Premier League(16th April 2016) | ||
The Friendship Trophy is a football honour, contested on an irregular basis by just two teams: Norwich City and Sunderland. The honour dates back to the camaraderie forged between fans of the two clubs at the time of the 1985 Football League Cup Final that they contested. Norwich City won the 1985 Football League Cup Final, however at the end of the First Division Season, both teams were relegated to the Second Division.
Nowadays, the Friendship Trophy is awarded to the winning team in competitive matches between the two sides, and as such, Sunderland are the current holders of the trophy, having beaten Norwich 3-0 at Carrow Road on 16 April 2016 in the Premier League. This trophy is only infrequently contested, as it requires both Norwich City and Sunderland to be in the same division, or to be drawn together in a cup competition, which last happened in 2009, when Sunderland beat Norwich City 4–1 in the Carling Cup. In 2013, Talksport named The Friendship Trophy one of football's most pointless awards.