On this day in 2023 Chris Rigg came off the bench for his Sunderland debut late on away to Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup. Since then he's very much become a regular in the first team and scored seven times as he nears his 50th appearance for the club.
Born in Hebburn, Rigg is actually a fan of our bitter rivals Newcastle United but despite this he joined our academy whilst at primary school. The attacking midfielder made his debut for our U18s in 2021 aged just 14.
The 2022/23 campaign was the season that he was really brought to the attention of Sunderland fans though. Rigg was first named in a senior squad on New Years’ Day 2023, away to Blackpool, and then a few days later came off the bench away to Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup to make his debut at the age of 15. He made an immediate impact as well as one of his shots led to a corner that caused our equaliser late on in stoppage time. We’d go on to find another goal before the final whistle for a dramatic late turnaround and memorable debut. Of course, this caught the eye of the media and wider footballing world but it was in the fourth round away to Fulham that he really made headlines, albeit for an offside goal. With the game’s score against top-half Premier League opposition being 1-1 in the dying embers, most of the 6,000 Sunderland fans in attendance and those watching at home were more than happy with the performance and were content with it going to a replay. In the last minute, Rigg capitalised from a cross and sparked wild scenes in the away end but unfortunately it wasn’t to be and it was chalked off for an offside. Videos of this goal were shared widely on social media and Tony Mowbray was asked about playing a 15-year-old against top flight opposition. Mowbray was adamant that it wasn’t a publicity stunt and that he was just good enough to play. He made one more appearance for the first team that season, coming off the bench for the replay against Fulham which we lost 3-2. Academy wise, Rigg made his debut for the U21s during this season as well so it was important on multiple fronts.
Pre-season 2023-24 was a good time for the now 16-year-old, he scored a late winner against South Shields and the opener in a 3-1 win against San Antonio in Texas and overall he made a great case for himself to be included more in the first team, which is exactly what he would go on to do in the end. Rigg would make 22 appearances across the Championship and League Cup in total and he chipped in with three goals. His first ever senior goal was an equaliser versus Crewe Alexandra to take the game to penalties in the first round of the EFL Cup and he’d find another early on into the season by taking advantage of some wonderful work by Jewison Bennette to score our fifth in a 5-0 romping of recently relegated Southampton at the Stadium of Light. These strikes made him the youngest ever goalscorer for Sunderland in both the league and League Cup and also the youngest goalscorer in League Cup history. His third and final goal provided the one and only bright spark as we slumped to a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Blackburn Rovers. It was a terrible season for Sunderland but a fantastic one individually for Chris Rigg.
This season, he's already surpassed his appearance total for the entirety of last season, even though the campaign has seen less games so far and he's been out injured since boxing day. He's scored a winner against Middlesbrough (this one was named Goal of the Month for September) and equalisers versus Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers. The 17-year-old got his first assist for the club away to Swansea City, helping out Jobe Bellingham as we completed an unlikely turnaround to win 3-2 from 2-0 down. Those goals mean he has now surpassed Gareth Bale's record for most goals scored in the Championship prior to turning 18-years-old.
His international career is burgeoning as well, he’s been capped at U15, U16, U17 and U18 level so far for England. He’s captained the latter of these three and represented the U17s at both a World Cup and European Championships.
Of course, all of this has meant he has been attracting interest from a variety of clubs in top flights across Europe and no transfer window has passed since his debut without rumours of him departing being mentioned in the press. He's so far chosen to continue his development on Wearside and hopefully if we can get promoted this season we'll have at least another season of him playing in red and white stripes. His contract doesn't actually expire until June 2027 now.
