Sunderland AFC: Every attendance at Stadium of Light so far this season (Ranked) | OneFootball

We have compared every attendance at each of the Black Cats' home games to date this season

Sunderland are widely credited with having some of the most loyal fans in English football, and that shows when their attendances at the Stadium of Light are compared to other clubs across the country.

The Black Cats have had a tough time of it since relegation from the Premier League in 2017, yet their fans' support has barely wavered, and they still turn out in their thousands every other week at their 49,000 seater ground in the North East, which is the ninth-largest for the sport in England.

Regis Le Bris has got off to an ideal start so far as Sunderland boss, after he was appointed in the summer prior to this term, with six wins and just two losses in his opening eight games in charge, meaning the Black Cats currently sit top of the Championship table on 18 points.

The Frenchman has taken to life in English football with ease, and Sunderland fans have packed into the Stadium of Light in each of their four league games there so far, in which they are unbeaten and yet to concede a goal.

With that said, Football League World have ranked each of their home attendances so far in order of size, from smallest to biggest, using Transfermarkt's attendance figures.

4 Derby County - 39,017

Sunderland's latest victory to extend their impressive early-season run came in the form of a relatively routine 2-0 win over Derby County on Tuesday, October 1.

Jobe Bellingham opened the scoring just before the interval, as he pounced on a loose pass 25 yards from goal to fire home and net his first goal of the campaign, while summer loan signing Wilson Isidor doubled the Black Cats' lead minutes before the hour mark as he tapped home a Romaine Mundle cross to bag his second in as many games.

The win meant Le Bris' side returned to the Championship summit ahead of Burnley, who kept up the pace with a 1-0 win over Plymouth Argyle, but it was actually in front of a season-low crowd so far at the Stadium of Light, of 39,017 fans.

That figure is still very impressive, though, and will likely have only been slightly lower than usual due to it being the first midweek fixture of the season, with the attendance surely set to shoot back up on Friday as Leeds United visit Wearside.

Le Bris' first home game at the Stadium of Light could not have gone any better, as his side emerged 4-0 winners over Sheffield Wednesday in the second round of Championship games on August 18.

Sunderland had already begun the season well in the league with a 2-0 win over Cardiff in the Welsh capital, but if a midweek EFL Cup loss to Preston had cast doubts over their decent start to the season, then their thrashing of the Owls five days later would have dispelled them very quickly.

Goals from Dennis Cirkin, Eliezer Mayenda and club captain Luke O'Nien made it 3-0 before half-time, before young striker Mayenda bagged his brace in the second period to send the near 40,000-strong home faithful home happy and put the Black Cats second in the league ahead of a visit from the table-topping Clarets.

2 Burnley - 40,096

Sunderland and Burnley have been the two early pace-setters in the Championship so far, but it is the Black Cats that hold the edge over their promotion rivals, after a vital 1-0 win courtesy of Romaine Mundle's first strike of the season on August 24.

It was a tight game between two very tactically astute sides, but the 21-year-old's cut inside from the left wing and low curled shot past James Trafford in the first-half was enough to seal all three points for the hosts, who had to hold on in the closing stages after Dan Neil was sent off for a second yellow card.

There were jubilant scenes around the ground at full-time, as a similar number of fans to the week before against Wednesday saw the Black Cats record three league wins in a row to start the season for the first time since 1925.

1 Middlesbrough - 42,871

Sunderland's main rivals are, of course, Newcastle United, but the Tees-Wear derby with Middlesbrough has taken precedent over the last few years given the two clubs' respective time in the second-tier together.

It should come as little surprise then, that a sold-out away end of over 2,200 Boro fans and more than 40,000 Black Cats supporters packed into the Stadium of Light to watch their clash on September 21, as the hosts emerged victorious.

Midfield starlet Chris Rigg's 24th minute backheel was enough to win the game for Le Bris' men, as he sent the stadium into raptures with his first goal of this season and their young side saw the game out expertly against a tough team.

It remains to be seen whether that attendance figure will be topped in the season ahead, but given the Stadium of Light can hold another 7,000 fans, and they do not look like slowing down in terms of form, it could very well be beaten pretty soon.