Netflix has announced the release date for what will reportedly be the final season of the emotional thrill ride that is Sunderland ‘Til I Die. Football fans and keen watchers of hesgoal streams are eagerly awaiting the third and final installment. Netflix’s sports documentaries have garnered high ratings and much fanfare due to their unique approach to the subject matter. They don’t just cover matches and games but offer a behind-the-scenes peek at how the operations behind these huge brands work. Viewers get an insider’s perspective from those involved in the sport, making these documentaries must-watch for football fans.
From Formula 1: Drive to Survive to FIFA Uncovered, their ‘Untold’ series and a raft of documentaries about specific sporting icons, Netflix has established itself as one of the most popular destinations for sports fans looking for this kind of content. Platforms like Amazon Prime and Disney have attempted to follow in their footsteps but it is easy to argue that Netflix is still ahead of the pack, and in many ways Sunderland ‘Til I Die, as well as the criminally underrated First Team: Juventus laid the ground work for some of these more prestigious properties that have followed.
Sunderland ‘Til I Die stands out among Netflix’s offerings as it led the way in covering a single football club. Alongside First Team: Juventus, which came out at a similar time, ‘STID’ gave fans their first real peek behind the curtain of how a professional football club is run.
Subsequent series like Amazon’s ‘All or Nothing’ have picked up the ball and ran with it, but Sunderland ‘Til I Die is seen by many football fans as the original. It’s first season in 2018 and second in 2020 were smash hits. The third and final season has finally confirmed its release date, much to fans’ delight.
The first season followed Sunderland A.F.C.’s relegation from the Championship to League One – the third tier of English football – back in 2017/18. The second season covered their first year in this tier during 2018/19 which ended with them being knocked out in the play-offs as they attempted to get promotion back to the Championship.
Those first two seasons, especially the second, gained huge popularity online among fans, often due to some of the more catastrophic actions of the club’s owners and directors off the pitch, as well as some tragic moments on it.
This final series hopes to leave the story of this famous Northeast club on a high note, after covering arguably the darkest period in its history during the first two seasons.
After four years away from the story, the creators of this critically acclaimed series, lifelong Sunderland fans Ben Turner and Leo Pearlman, have revealed that season three will focus on The Black Cats’ dramatic promotion back to the Championship through the League One play-offs in 2021/22.
The creators have revealed that they will end the story there, after covering the semi-final and final play-off win at Wembley, capturing on film the moment Sunderland finally made it back to the English second-tier.
Turner and Pearlman justify this decision by stating they want to end “Sunderland Til I Die on a high”.
This finale will likely capture not only the euphoria of the sporting achievement but also the bond of community and pride that the club has with its supporters and the residents of the city.
This is what made the first two seasons so popular, and fans are expecting more of the same when season three drops. However, it can’t be ignored that one of the major selling points of the first two seasons was also some of the utter chaos and calamity which surrounded the club at that time. Fans will secretly be hoping to see a little bit of juicy controversy behind-the-scenes in this final installment.
The highly anticipated finale to Sunderland ‘Til I Die is coming to Netflix on Tuesday 13 February.
So, football fans and Netflix subscribers, mark your calendars! The dreaded wait is almost over. Sunderland ‘Til I Die is set to go out with a bang.
