Sunderland drawn against AC Milan in Europa League as 53-year European exile ends

Sunderland’s return to European football will feature a trip to one of the most iconic stadiums on the continent. The Black Cats have been drawn against AC Milan in the Europa League league phase, setting up a visit to the San Siro that would have seemed like pure fantasy just a few seasons ago. The draw, conducted on 28 August 2026 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, handed Sunderland an eight-match schedule across the competition’s relatively new single-league-phase format. Milan is the marquee fixture, but the full slate includes AZ Alkmaar, Dinamo Zagreb, Anderlecht, Jagiellonia Białystok, Lech Poznań, Levski Sofia, and Torreense. From the Championship to the San Siro The last time Sunderland played in a European competition, Richard Nixon was still president. Their previous continental adventure came in the 1973-74 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, which means the club has waited more than half a century to hear its name called alongside Europe’s elite again. That drought ended because of a seventh-place finish in the 2025-26 Premier League season, a result that was itself the culmination of one of English football’s more compelling revival stories. Sunderland climbed from the Championship ...