Arsenal kept their perfect start to the season on Saturday, September 12, with a 2-0 win at Sunderland. It was one of the most searched matches of the day in the United States. For Sunderland, games like this are the reason getting back to the Premier League mattered: the biggest clubs in England are coming to Wearside again, and so are their fans.
If you are planning to see a match at the Stadium of Light, whether you follow the home side or travel with the away support, this guide covers how to get there, what to do after the final whistle, and why the ground is worth a look beyond the football.
A stadium built on a coal mine
The Stadium of Light stands on the site of Wearmouth Colliery, which closed in December 1993. Two years later the club chose the old pit as the location for a new home, and the ground opened on July 30, 1997, with a 0-0 friendly against Ajax.
The mining past is part of the visit. A Davy lamp monument, the safety lamp that miners carried underground, stands at the entrance. It is a nod to the families who worked the pits of the North East, and a good landmark to arrange to meet at before the match.
The stadium holds around 49,000 for football. Its record attendance is 48,353, set against Liverpool on April 13, 2002. For concerts it holds even more: 60,000 people saw Ed Sheeran here on June 3, 2022.
Getting there by Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro reached Sunderland in 2002, and it is the easiest way to the ground. Two stations serve the stadium, both on the Green line, which runs between South Hylton and Newcastle Airport:
- Stadium of Light station: about 0.3 miles from the ground.
- St Peter’s station: about 0.4 miles from the ground.
Travel guidance published for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, when the stadium was a host venue, listed Green line trains every 12 minutes. The Green line also runs through Newcastle Central Station, so you can stay in either city and reach the ground without changing trains.
From Newcastle Airport
Newcastle International Airport is about 22 miles from Sunderland city centre. Because the Green line starts at the airport, you can ride the Metro straight through. The same guidance put the trip at around 55 minutes, with trains running seven days a week from about 6 a.m. to midnight. A taxi takes 30 to 45 minutes and typically costs between £25 and £40.
By train to Sunderland station
Sunderland’s main railway station has direct trains to several of Britain’s larger cities, including London, York, Leeds and Sheffield. Travelling from continental Europe, you can take the Eurostar to London St Pancras and walk next door to King’s Cross for a train north.
From the station, the stadium is about 0.9 miles away, or roughly 20 minutes on foot, heading north across the River Wear. On a dry day the walk is part of the experience, with home fans filling the streets as kickoff gets closer.
After the final whistle
Getting away is the part that catches visitors out. Expect long queues at both Metro stations after a full house. The advice issued for big events at the stadium is to split the crowd by direction:
- Heading northbound, toward Newcastle and the airport: use Stadium of Light station.
- Heading southbound, toward Sunderland city centre and South Hylton: use St Peter’s station.
Arrangements can change from one event to the next, so follow the signs and the stewards and Nexus staff on the day rather than assuming the way home works the same as the way in. Buy your return ticket in advance to skip the ticket-machine queue. And if you are not in a hurry, wait twenty minutes: the queues shrink quickly once the first wave has gone.
If you are driving, the same guidance discourages parking at Metro stations north of Sunderland and riding in, since those trains are already full of fans by the time they reach the ground.
Making a weekend of it
The Green line keeps going past the stadium to Seaburn, so the seafront at Seaburn and Roker is only a short ride away if you want sea air before or after the game.
One change to know about: Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, one of the city’s best-known free attractions, closed on August 29, 2026, while preparations for its redevelopment begin. No reopening date has been announced, so don’t build a day around it.
Following your team around England this season? Our guides to getting to Old Trafford by tram and reaching the London Stadium through Stratford cover two more grounds where the journey home needs as much planning as the journey there.
Featured photo of the Stadium of Light: Mrs Logic, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Metro photo: Thryduulf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
