Sunderland Association Football Club (pronounced /ˈsʊndərlənd/) is an English professional association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear that competes in the Premier League. Since its formation in 1879, the club has won six First Division titles—in 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936 and the FA Cup twice, in 1937 and 1973 (see Sunderland A.F.C. seasons).

The club was founded by schoolteacher James Allan and was elected into The Football League in 1890 where the team performed well in the league, earning plaudits such as a "wonderfully fine team".

The Sunderland team won their first FA Cup in 1937 with a 3–1 victory over Preston North End, and remained in the top league for 68 successive seasons, losing the record to Arsenal when they were relegated in 1958. Sunderland's most notable trophy win after the Second World War was their second FA Cup in 1973, when the club secured a 1–0 victory over Leeds United. The team has won the second tier title 5 times in that period and the third tier title once.

Sunderland play their home games at the 49,000 capacity all-seater Stadium of Light having moved from Roker Park in 1997. The original ground capacity was 42,000 which was increased to 49,000 following redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898. Now you can buy Sunderland Tickets for upcoming matches, some of the matches are schaduled as follows:

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Lahm strikes upbeat note

Philipp Lahm, Germany's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ captain, insists the squad can cope with their mounting injury problems.

Coach Joachim Low has already been deprived of five players for the tournament, with Schalke defender Heiko Westermann the latest to be ruled out.

The withdrawal of Westermann, who broke his foot during Saturday's 3-0 friendly win over Hungary in Budapest, comes after injury had put paid to the hopes of goalkeeper Rene Adler, Simon Rolfes, Christian Trasch and, most importantly, skipper Michael Ballack.

Those injuries will hardly make Germany's task any easier - they are in a tough-looking group alongside Serbia, Ghana and Australia - but Lahm still believes the squad is strong enough to make an impact in South Africa.

"That we have lost players who are enormously important for us is a shame," said the Bayern Munich full-back, chosen as Low's captain in place of Ballack, at a press conference today.

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Muller's bike blow for Germany

Germany's rising star Thomas Muller was left needing stiches to a chin injury after falling off a mountain bike at his team's 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa training camp in northern Italy today. The 20-year-old forward, who won a domestic double with Bayern Munich in the 2009/10 season, fell from his bike as part of the team's training and was left with a cut knee and a gash on his chin, the German Football Federation (DFB) confirmed. He received stitches from team doctor Josef Schmitt, but the DFB stressed Mueller has no muscle or bone injuries after the crash in the Alps near Eppan.

The German team have been hit by a spate of injuries ahead of South Africa 2010, which starts on 11 June, with midfielders Christian Traesch and captain Michael Ballack both ruled out of the month-long tournament with ankle injuries. ticket4football.com provides fans with the facility to buy Germany World Cup Tickets online at cheaper price. Also Brazil World Cup Tickets, Spain World Cup Tickets , France World Cup Tickets and Paraguay World Cup Tickets are available at the same place, Other than world cup tickets ticket4football gives the facility to buy football tickets for other matches as well.

Ballack: I'll be back for Germany

Germany captain Michael Ballack insists his international career is not over, despite being forced to miss the FIFA World Cup™ due to injury.

Ballack picked up an ankle injury in the FA Cup final after being fouled by Portsmouth's Kevin-Prince Boateng and has been told he will not be able to play again for at least two months. That diagnosis ruled him out of the FIFA World Cup, but it will not bring his international career to an end at the age of 33.

"I won't let my international career come to an end because of a foul like this," he said. "I never said that I would retire after the World Cup. I want to continue playing at the highest level and I will consider things in calm over the next few weeks."

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Neuville announces retirement

Former Germany international Oliver Neuville has announced his retirement. The 37-year-old striker, who made 69 appearances for his country, brought the curtain down on an almost two-decade long career that has included two FIFA World Cup finals and saw him play in Bayer Leverkusen's 2002 UEFA Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.

Neuville spent the past six years at Borussia Monchengladbach and will remain at the Bundesliga club as a youth-team coach. Now ticket4football.com provides fans with the facility to buy Germany World Cup Tickets online at cheaper price. Also Brazil World Cup Tickets, Spain World Cup Tickets , France World Cup Tickets and Paraguay World Cup Tickets are available at the same place, Other than world cup 2010 tickets ticket4football gives the facility to buy FA Cup final tickets and Champions league final tickets.

Beckenbauer warming to Van Gaal

Bayern Munich's honorary president Franz Beckenbauer admits he is warming to Louis van Gaal after he led his club to Bundesliga glory in his first season in charge. Beckenbauer had been one of Van Gaal's most vociferous critics when things were not going according to plan earlier this season. Bayern were struggling in the Bundesliga and on the brink of elimination from the UEFA Champions League as the pressure mounted on the Dutchman early in his reign, but a defeat for Juventus against Bordeaux and then Bayern's memorable 4-1 victory in Turin was the turning point in the campaign.

Bayern went on to win the Bundesliga and they are in the final of both the DFB-Pokal and Champions League and Beckenbauer has become one of Van Gaal's biggest fans. "I have got to say that I am warming to him," said the Kaiser in the Tz newspaper.

"Louis knows precisely what he is doing. He is a strict, decisive and disciplined coach who, on the other hand, can also be relaxed and let himself go when celebrating." Bayern face Werder Bremen in the final of the DFB-Pokal next Saturday before playing Inter Milan for the Champions League title in Madrid on 22 May. Germany world cup tickets for world cup 2010 are available on Ticket4football which provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than world cup 2010 tickets you can also get Brazil World Cup Tickets, FA Cup final tickets, Champions League final tickets and Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich tickets.

Jendrisek to join Schalke

Schalke have signed Slovakia striker Erik Jendrisek from Kaiserslautern.

The 23-year-old will join the club on a three-year deal when his current deal expires in the summer. A statement on Schalke's official website read: "An international for World Cup participants Slovakia will soon play for Schalke. Erik Jendrisek, whose contract with Kaiserslautern runs out at the end of the season, is joining the Royal Blues."

Jendrisek's signing could pave the way for Kevin Kuranyi to leave Gelsenkirchen. Kuranyi, who has been in excellent form this season, has been heavily linked in the German press with a move to Dynamo Moscow. Jendrisek has scored 14 times in 29 games for Kaiserslautern so far this term to help the club secure promotion back to the top flight.

Earlier this week, Schalke also confirmed Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder would be joining the club in the summer. Germany world cup tickets for world cup 2010 are available on Ticket4football which provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than world cup 2010 tickets you can also get Brazil World Cup Tickets, FA Cup final tickets, Champions League final tickets and Inter Milan vs Bayern Munich tickets.

Dortmund haggle over Lewandowski

Borussia Dortmund have confirmed their interest in Poland international Robert Lewandowski, but have warned his club Lech Poznan that they must drop their asking price if a deal is to be reached.

The 21-year-old striker, who has also attracted the interest of Serie A side Genoa, is reportedly keen on a move to Dortmund but the club's director of sport Michael Zorc said the two parties are still some way off agreeing a price.

"We can say that the boy would like to transfer to Borussia Dortmund," Zorc told Sport1 television. "But we are not prepared to fulfil the demands Poznan have made to us."

Lewandowski came second in the vote for Poland's player of the year in 2009 and has already made 20 appearances for the national team, scoring six goals.

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Low has faith in struggling strikers

Germany coach Joachim Low looks set to name Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski in his 2010 FIFA World Cup™ squad, even though both strikers have struggled to hit form this season.

Klose and Podolski have each found the back of the net just twice all season, while Schalke striker Kevin Kuranyi, who has not figured in the national team since October 2008, has netted 18 times.

Low has revealed that he is considering brining Kuranyi back, but he has hinted that both Klose and Podolski can also be sure of their places.

"I know that they have not had very much success this season, but I have no doubts about their quality," Low told Kicker magazine.

As far as a decision over Kuranyi is concerned, Low said: "I am still considering it and I will certainly reveal my choice before 6 May. But the squad announcement cannot be overshadowed by the issue of Kuranyi."

Meanwhile, the chances of Thomas Hitzlsperger being chosen are diminishing by the week. He left Stuttgart for Lazio in the winter to try and get more match practice, but he has not appeared in the Serie A side's last three matches and has yet to start a game for the club. Hitzlsperger now has only four games left to prove to Low that he still deserves to be included.

"It is not easy and we will have to wait and see if he plays a few games in the next three weeks," said Low. Germany world cup tickets for world cup 2010 are available on Ticket4football which provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get Brazil World Cup Tickets, FA Cup final tickets, Champions League final tickets and World cup 2010 tickets.

Guerrero receives five-match ban

Jose Paolo Guerrero has been banned for the remaining five games of Hamburg's Bundesliga season after throwing a bottle at a fan at the end of his side's 0-0 draw with Hannover on Sunday.

The Peruvian reacted angrily after being verbally abused at the entrance to the tunnel as he left the field. He threw a plastic bottle at a fan, striking him in the face, and has already been punished by his club with a substantial fine.

However, the German Football Association have also decided to take action by suspending him for the remainder of the season. Furthermore, the 26-year-old has been ordered to pay EUR 20,000.

Hamburg have the right to appeal within 24 hours, but given the gravity of the incident and the fact they recognised this by imposing a club record fine on the player, they are expected to accept the sanction.

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Cacau to leave Stuttgart

Germany international Cacau will leave Stuttgart as a free agent at the end of the season after rejecting the club's latest contract offer. The 29-year-old Brazilian-born Germany international has featured regularly for Stuttgart this season, scoring eight goals in 20 appearances.

His solid form persuaded the club to offer the striker a one-year extension on improved terms, but Cacau has turned it down.

"I have thought for a long time about this step, and finally decided that after seven good years I will look for a new challenge," Cacau said on the club's website.

"I have had a great time at VfB and have many friends and have enjoyed great success.

"We have not found an agreement now, but I'll never forget my time here and will keep working in the remaining games to ensure we have a successful season."

Cacau is Stuttgart's longest serving player, having joined the club in 2003. He has scored 57 goals in 172 league games, helping the club to win the Bundesliga title in 2007.

Cacau is not likely to be short of offers in the summer, with Wolfsburg, Schalke, Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim and Sevilla all said to be interested.

Stuttgart, however, must look elsewhere. "We have made Cacau a reasonable offer that was improved twice during the course of negotiations," general manager Horst Heldt said. "Unfortunately, he has decided against staying here, but we wish him well in his future endeavours," Heldt added. Germany World Cup Tickets are now available online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get World cup football tickets, Champions League final tickets, FA Cup final tickets, FA Cup tickets and World cup 2010 tickets from the same spot online without any headache and with guaranteed delivery of tickets at home.

Lehmann confirms retirement

Jens Lehmann will retire from football at the end of the season. The 40-year-old Stuttgart goalkeeper announced at a press conference today he will bring an end to his career when the Bundesliga season finishes on 8 May.

"That is what the family council has decided," said the former Arsenal and Germany goalkeeper. Lehmann gave an indication he would hang up his gloves at the end of the campaign earlier this month when he confirmed he would not be extending his contract at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. He said at the time staying on would be unfair on his understudies at Stuttgart: Sven Ulreich and Alexander Stolz.

Lehmann won 61 caps for Germany, and was the first choice keeper at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™ and Euro 2008. Lehmann joined Stuttgart from Arsenal in 2008 after winning the Premier League title in 2004 and FA Cup in 2005 with the Gunners as well as reaching the Champions League final in 2006. The German was sent off after just 20 minutes in that game as Arsenal lost 2-1 to Barcelona.

He moved to Arsenal from Borussia Dortmund in 2003, with whom he won the Bundesliga title in 2002. He started his career with Schalke, winning the UEFA Cup in 1997, before a brief stint with AC Milan in 1998. Germany world cup tickets for world cup 2010 are available on Ticket4football which provides the fans with the easiest way to get their world cup football tickets online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get Brazil World Cup Tickets , Champions League tickets, Champions League final tickets and World cup 2010 tickets.

USA's Bradley breaks nose

Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Michael Bradley is to have surgery after breaking his nose in training this afternoon.

Gladbach are hoping the United States international can avoid missing any games by wearing a protective mask, but must wait for the results of the operation before making any decisions.

Bradley has a little extra time to recover as he is already suspended for Sunday's clash with Hamburg in the Bundesliga. The 23-year-old has missed only four games all season for Gladbach, whom he joined from Heerenveen in September 2008. Germany World Cup Tickets are now available online. Other than World cup tickets you can also get World cup football tickets, Champions League final tickets, FA Cup final tickets, FA Cup tickets and World cup 2010 tickets from the same spot online without any headache and with guaranteed delivery of tickets at home.

Maniche strike rescues Cologne

Goals by Marko Reus and Maniche meant Cologne and Borussia Monchengladbach shared the points in a result that was of little use to either side as they look to climb up the table.

Reus put Monchengladbach ahead 11 minutes into the second half with a fine individual goal before Maniche levelled with a little over ten minutes remaining, with the draw keeping the visitors three points ahead of Cologne.

Gladbach started the game on the back of two heavy defeats, but it was Michael Frontzeck's team that took the initiative at the RheinEnergieStadion, Rob Friend spurning a free header after just five minutes.

Lukas Podolski nearly hit back for the hosts, sending a left-footed shot wide from 30 yards before he then fired another left-footed shot into the bottom left of the goal, but the Germany striker was judged to have fouled a defender and the goal was disallowed.

Cologne almost went ahead seven minutes into the second half when Petit unleashed a powerful shot from 20 yards that went past the left post. However, just four minutes later Gladbach were ahead, Reus drilling a shot from 20 yards that went into the bottom left of the goal.

Monchengladbach were just 11 minutes from victory when Maniche equalised for Cologne. Zoran Tosic sent in a pass from the right which reached Maniche and the Portuguese midfielder hit a powerful shot from 20 yards that went into the top right of the goal to secure a point for the hosts.

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Kiessling signs new Leverkusen deal

Germany international Stefan Kiessling has extended his contract with Bayer Leverkusen until 2015.

Kiessling, who currently leads the Bundesliga scoring charts with 16 for the season, has signed a new, more lucrative deal even though his current contract still had more than two years left on it.

"My family and I are very happy in Leverkusen and the club has excellent long-term potential," said the 26-year-old on the club's website. "Therefore, there is no reason for me to change anything."

Kiessling arrived at Leverkusen from Nurnberg in 2006 and his steady improvement has been recognised with his inclusion recently in the Germany national team.

He is almost certain to be part of Joachim Low's squad for the FIFA World Cup™ this summer and Leverkusen director of sport Wolfgang Holzhauser is particularly proud to have such a player in his squad.

"We are extremely happy that, with Stefan Kiessling, we will continue to have one of the best German strikers among our ranks," he said. "We had been in agreement for a while, and now we have concluded the formalities."

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Hannover reassure Slomka

Mirko Slomka has been assured his job as Hannover manager is safe for the match against Freiburg this weekend, despite losing his sixth straight game yesterday.

A 1-0 defeat at home to Lower Saxony neighbours Wolfsburg means Slomka has seen his side lose every single game since he replaced Andreas Bergmann as coach last month, but the club is sticking with him, at least for the time being. "Slomka will be our coach in Freiburg," said club president Martin Kind to Sky television.

When pressed on whether Slomka would still remain in the event of a record seventh-straight defeat against the fellow Bundesliga strugglers, Kind added: "I am assuming that we will win in Freiburg."

Only five other coaches in the history of the Bundesliga have endured such a poor start, but Slomka was happy with some positive signs in yesterday's defeat. "We played very passionately and, at times, some exciting football going forward," he said.

Nevertheless, he still has a challenge on his hands convincing the fans at the Niedersachsen Stadion not to head for the exits as soon as his side concedes a goal. "We need to change that," he said. "It is not good when they want to go home so quickly."

The Wolfsburg fans would have stayed there all week celebrating a derby victory which moved them back above Borussia Monchengladbach into 11th place. "We played well overall," said their coach Lorenz-Gunther Kostner. "And it was also good that we did not concede and then we scored our goal at just the right time." Keeping the eagerness of the viewers ticket4football.com provides football fans with the facility to get Germany world cup tickets and football tickets for other soccer events online you can also buy England world cup tickets, World cup tickets, Champions League tickets and Champions League final tickets.

History of German Football (cont...): Postwar football

Under Allied occupation all organizations, including sports clubs and associations, were initially banned. However, within a year, sports-only organizations without political affiliation were permitted, and in the American, British and French occupation zones, most pre-war clubs were reconstituted. Oberliga play resumed in 1945–46 on a regional basis in the South and South-West; Berlin and the other regions followed and, in 1948, 1. FC Nuremberg defeated 1. FC Kaiserslautern 2:1 to become the first post-war national champions. At the time, there was no "prize" to play for. The Viktoria trophy traditionally awarded to the nation's best side had gone missing in the chaos of post-war Germany. In 1949, Nuremberg and each winning side since VfB Leipzig in 1903, would have their names engraved on the newly created Meisterschale, nicknamed "the salad bowl" for its shape. The German Cup competition introduced prior to the war also returned, with Rot-Weiss Essen's 2:1 victory over Alemannia Aachen in 1953.

Through the 1950s, there were continued calls for the formation of a central professional league, especially as professional leagues in other countries began to draw Germany's best players away from the amateur domestic leagues. At the international level the German game began to falter as German teams often fared poorly against professional teams from other countries. A key supporter of the central league concept was national team head coach Sepp Herberger who said, "If we want to remain competitive internationally, we have to raise our expectations at the national level."

In spite of this, Germany (as West Germany) managed to win its first World Cup in 1954 defeating heavily favoured Hungary 3:2, the only "amateur" (i.e. semi-professional) side ever to do so. The unexpected victory was called "The Miracle of Bern" by a delighted nation. An oddity of the 1954 World Cup preliminary rounds was the fielding of a separate side by the German state of Saarland, which was occupied by the French and did not become a part of West Germany again until after a plebiscite and treaty negotiation. The Saarlanders acquitted themselves well, finishing second in their group ahead of Norway and behind group winner West Germany.

Meanwhile, in East Germany, a separate league was established with the formation of the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga or German Sports Association) in 1949. The league was re-named the Football Oberliga DFV in 1958 and was generally referred to simply as the DDR-Liga or DDR-Oberliga. The league fielded 14 teams with 2 relegation spots.

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German football under the Third Reich

The reach of Germany's totalitarian Nazi regime stretched into social institutions at all levels, including their football leagues. Most sports and football associations were disbanded or replaced by Nazi-sponsored organisations. To join a DFB club, a player required recommendations from two non-Marxists to be permitted to play. The DFB gradually lost its independence as it was assimilated into the Deutscher Reichsausschuss für Leibesübungen (DRA) (Reich Committee for Physical Education).

Under Hans von Tschammer und Osten as Reichssportsführer, appointed by the Nazis, formerly independent sports organisations became departments of a new organisation which replaced the DRA — Deutscher Reichsbund für Leibesübungen (DRL, later NSRL or Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen). As in most of German society at the time, sports associations and football teams took part in the purge of Jews from their organisations as ordered by the regime. A few clubs, such as Alemannia Aachen and Bayern Munich, moved to support or protect their members in the face of these actions.

Football was re-organised into sixteen Gaue, or regions, in the Gauliga, which was in place from 1933 to 1945. The overall effect of this was positive for German football. Prior to 1933, nearly 600 clubs competed in the top flight. League re-organisation reduced this to about 170 sides and significantly raised the level of competition. This was the beginning of a process of consolidation of the myriad of small regional leagues that would culminate in a stronger, unified national league structure. The German Cup was introduced in 1935. Known initially as the Tschammerpokal, after Hans von Tschammer, the first cup winner was 1. FC Nuremberg. Play for the Tschammerpokal went on until 1943 and was not resumed again until 1953, under its new name.

The pre-war period saw the return of a number of German sides that played in a rump league set up in the Saarland, a German state occupied by the French since the end of World War I. Some of these teams played in the French Second Division, including FV Saarbruecken (later renamed 1. FC Saarbrücken), who won that division handily but were denied promotion to the First Division.

FC Schalke 04 dominated German football during the Nazi era and was often held up for propaganda purposes as an example of the new Germany. As the Reich expanded through conquest, teams from Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg were incorporated into the Gauliga. After the Anschluss, the forced union of Austria with Germany, Vienna's Rapid Wien captured the Tschammerpokal in 1938 and the German national championship in 1941, the latter with a 4-3 win over Schalke, who had been three goals ahead with just fifteen minutes to play in the game.

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History of German football: Early history

Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga, German football was played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional leagues (until 1945) which, in post-war times, had a top layer of semi-professional regional Oberligen (Premier Leagues). Regional champions and, from 1925 onwards, runners-up played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship. On January 28, 1900, a national association, the Deutscher Fussball Bund (DFB) was founded in Leipzig with 86 member clubs. From the start, the DFB was - and still is - a federation of regional associations. The first recognised national championship team was VfB Leipzig, who beat DFC Prague 7-2 in a game played in Altona on May 31, 1903.

The nascent German association permitted teams from outside the country in their new league, as long as they were ethnically German sides. This is how Prague, a team from Austria-Hungary, managed an appearance in the German national final. Once the DFB joined FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) in 1904, clubs from outside the country were no longer permitted to play in Germany.

The last team to win the Viktoria was Dresdner SC, who beat the air-force club Luftwaffen SV Hamburg in Berlin's Olympiastadion 4-0 to end the 1943–44 competition. In the confusion at the end of World War II, the trophy disappeared. It was re-discovered decades later in an East German bank safe-deposit box where it had been placed by a Dresden supporter for safekeeping. It has since been returned to the DFB. In the meantime, a new championship trophy, the Meisterschale ("Championship Plate"), sometimes nicknamed "die Salatschüssel" (the salad bowl), was created in 1949.

In 1919, there were 150,000 registered football players in Germany; by 1932, there were more than a million. In spite of the formation of a national association, German football held to an ideal of amateurism built around regional and local sports associations who felt that professionalism would diminish sportsmanship and local participation in the game. In the early 1930s, the DFB's president, Felix Linnemann, pushed for the creation of a professional league, or Reichsliga, in which the country's best teams would compete for the national championship. The idea was rebuffed by the regional federations dominating the sport.

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