- A. a b : Club's most capped player with 36 appearances for Republic of Ireland.
- B. a b : First player to be transferred for £1000.
- C. a b : All-time top scorer.
- D. a b : Most goals in a season (43) in 1928–29 season.
- E. a b : Named Sunderland's player of the century.
- F. ^ : For a full description of positions see football positions.
- G. ^ : The Date from column includes data of the year the player made his debut for the club, also including data of multiple spells at the club by a player.
- H. ^ : The Date to column includes data of the year the player made his last appearances for the club.
- I. ^ : All entries in this column are sourced to the player's individual page from The Stat Cat or Soccerbase.
- J. ^ : Club's first professional captain.
- K. ^ : Most capped player for England of those playing for both Sunderland and the national side simultaneously.
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- L. ^ : Top goalscorer for England of those playing for both Sunderland and the national side simultaneously.
- M. ^ : Represented England at both cricket and football.
- N. ^ : Only player to have captained Sunderland, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough.
- O. ^ : All-time appearance record-holder
- P. ^ : Captained 1973 FA Cup winning team.
- Q. ^ : Scored 1973 FA Cup winning goal.
- R. ^ : Served as Chairman-Manager before appointment of Roy Keane as manager in 2006–07 season.
- S. ^ : Post-war leading goalscorer.
- T. ^ : Club record transfer sale, £18,000,000, from Aston Villa.
- U. ^ : Club record transfer purchase, £13,000,000, from Stade Rennais.
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