Burnley vs. Sunderland: Head-to-head record and past meetings

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 122

Burnley wins: 40

Draws: 34

Burnley and Sunderland have faced each other a total of 122 times across all competitions, with the Black Cats leading the overall head-to-head record having posted 48 wins to the Clarets 40, while 34 draws have been played out between the two clubs.

September 1890 was the first time these two teams butted heads, with Burnley securing a 3-2 away victory in the old Division One, the first of 77 meetings in this division up until 1969.

Burnley just edge the head-to-head record for this period with 30 wins to Sunderland’s 29. The Clarets’ biggest win in this fixture to date is their 6-0 home victory in October 1957, but the Black Cats went one better 31 years earlier when they scored seven in a 7-1 triumph on home soil.

Both teams also faced each other twice in the old Division Two between 1971 and 1980. Sunderland can out on top in six of those matches, including 4-3 and 5-0 home wins, while Burnley celebrated only two victories in this period, doing the double over the Black Cats in the 1972-73 season.

Since the EFL Championship was founded in 2004, Burnley and Sunderland have locked horns eight times in the second tier, and it was the team from Wearside who celebrated an early spell of success with three wins and one draw between December 2004 and April 2007, securing top-flight promotion in the latter year.

Burnley and Sunderland renewed acquaintances in the Championship in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons, and both teams picked up five points across those four meetings (W1 D2 L1), including two goalless stalemates at Turf Moor.

Only seven times have Burnley and Sunderland faced off in the Premier League, and the Clarets edged ahead in the head-to-head record by claiming their third win at the beginning of the 2025-26 season, winning 2-0 at Turf Moor.

That victory extended both teams' unbeaten home records against one another in the top flight, with Burnley recording 3-1, 4-1 and 2-0 home wins, while Sunderland have won 2-1 and 2-0, and three draws making up the remaining results.