{"id":7529,"date":"2026-07-15T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7529"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T11:34:08","slug":"world-cup-veteran-thomas-meunier-joins-sunderland-ahead-of-europa-league-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7529","title":{"rendered":"World Cup veteran Thomas Meunier joins Sunderland ahead of Europa League campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 World Cup<\/a> veteran Thomas Meunier joined Sunderland on Wednesday ahead of the English club\u2019s first European campaign for 53 years.<\/p>\n

Read more World Cup star Lopes returns to Champions League action captaining Shamrock Rovers to win<\/a><\/p>\n

The 34-year-old Belgium defender was a free agent after playing at his third straight World Cup. His contract at Lille expired during the tournament.<\/p>\n

Sunderland said Meunier, who previously played for Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund, signed a two-year contract.<\/p>\n

Newly promoted Sunderland was widely forecast to be relegated last season yet placed seventh to qualify for the Europa League. Sunderland previously played in the European Cup-Winners\u2019 Cup in 1973 after a storied FA Cup title as a second-tier team.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump administration scales back immigration crackdown after ICE shootings<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunderland players carried their good form into the World Cup with captain Granit Xhaka<\/a> impressing for Switzerland, Brian Brobbey<\/a> scoring three goals for the Netherlands and Wilson Isidor scoring for Haiti.<\/p>\n

Meunier is the third Belgium player to join a new club since a World Cup quarterfinals loss against Spain<\/a> last Friday. Youri Tielemans<\/a> moved to Manchester United from Aston Villa and Leandro Trossard<\/a> left Arsenal for Besiktas.<\/p>\n

Read more Todd Blanche faces Capitol Hill grilling in bid to become attorney general<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Cup veteran Thomas Meunier has joined Sunderland ahead of the English club\u2019s first European campaign for 53 years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWorld Cup veteran Thomas Meunier joins Sunderland ahead of Europa League campaign - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7529\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup veteran Thomas Meunier joins Sunderland ahead of Europa League campaign - 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