Sunderland Albion Football Club was an English association football club based in Sunderland, England, formed in 1888. The club played in the Football Alliance, a rival to the Football League, before disbanding in 1892.

In December 1887, Sunderland A.F.C. beat Middlesbrough in an FA Cup replay. Middlesbrough protested on the basis that Sunderland had brought in three outsiders from Scotland, one of whom played under an assumed name; the FA upheld the protest and disqualified Sunderland.

Dissatisfied with the disqualification, on 13 March 1888, A.F.C.'s vice-captain James Allan held a meeting at The Empress Hotel in Union Street to form a new club, Sunderland Albion, to play on purely amateur lines. Seven Sunderland players defected to Albion along with Sunderland AFC's first President (Alderman George Potts).

The "amateur" nature of the new club led to cynicism that the "amateurism" was merely a device to enter Cup competitions, and that players - including the Scottish professionals - had been enticed away by some form of remuneration. The club denied this, stating its role was to fill a geographical gap, being primarily a representative of Bishopwearmouth rather than Monkwearmouth. However the club soon gained sponsorship from wealthy individuals, most noticeably from Allan's neighbour James Hartley, who owned the Wear Glass Works at Monkwearmouth, and breweries found sinecure jobs for players - Jimmy Hannah became landlord of the Free Gardeners Arms in Williamson Terrace, with the tenure taken over by John Rae - which enabled the players to claim still to be amateurs.

Albion's first fixture was on 5 May 1888 against Shankhouse. Albion's first line-up for the game at the Ashville Ground was as follows: Stewart, Oliver, Gilmartin, Richardson, Moore, Baxter, Scott, Kilpatrick, Melville, Monaghan and Nugent. Five of the Albion players were substitutes from Elswick Rangers as certain expected players did not turn up. Albion led 2–0 at half time and triumphed 3–0.

The club started playing competitive football in 1888–89, entering the FA Cup and the Durham Senior Cup. The enmity with Sunderland A.F.C. became palpable as Albion was drawn against the club in both competitions - in the fourth round of the 1888–89 FA Cup qualifying rounds and the third round of the regional cup - and both times A.F.C. withdrew, on the pretext of the "demoralizing effects of Cup competition", but suspected on the grounds of Albion protesting the professionalism of the A.F.C.'s players; in lieu of the disappointed Cup ties, the clubs arranged two matches, one for profit and one for charity, at the A.F.C.'s Newcastle Road ground. The first took place in December 1888, on the scheduled date of the Qualifying Cup tie. In front of 14,000 spectators, and able to field an unfettered side, A.F.C. won 2–0.

The second - for which a councillor donated a trophy - took place the next month, on the scheduled date of the Durham Cup tie, but bad weather kept the attendance below 10,000. With the score at 2–2 in the 88th minute, a three-player collision saw the ball bounce from goalkeeper Angus off forward Breckenridge and high towards the goal; the Albion players claimed it had gone over the bar, but the referee awarded the goal, resulting in the players walking off the pitch in protest, in defiance of Allen's instructions. After the match, the Albion players were followed by "a lot of roughs" who "showed their bad blood by pelting the Albion side with stones".

Albion also went out of the FA Cup at the first round proper, losing 3–1 at Grimsby Town, handicapped by the non-availability of some of its players. It did at least have the consolation of winning the Durham Cup, beating Birtley 3–0 in the final at Bishop Auckland, thanks to three second-half goals, two being headers from McLellan corners and the third a header from a McLellan cross. The match had to be played twice, as the first was abandoned after the ropes holding the crowd had snapped, with Albion 2–1 to the good.