Middlesbrough FCMiddlesbrough, founded in 1876 by members of a local cricket club, is among the oldest football clubs in North East England. In their amateur years the club won the FA Amateur Cup twice, in 1895 and 1898, before turning professional for good in 1899 and joining the Football League. In 1905 Middlesbrough signed forward Alf Common from Sunderland for £1,000, a fee that made him the first player in football history to be transferred for a four-figure sum.
The club's best-ever league finish, third place in the old First Division, came in 1913–14. Middlesbrough spent most of the twentieth century as a fixture of English football's top two divisions and were among the founding members of the Premier League in 1992. For decades, though, silverware proved elusive.
That changed in 2004, when Middlesbrough beat Bolton Wanderers 2–1 in the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, lifting the first major trophy in the club's history.
Two years later Middlesbrough enjoyed the most remarkable European campaign of any English club outside the traditional elite. Managed by Steve McClaren, they reached the 2006 UEFA Cup final via two extraordinary comebacks at the Riverside Stadium. In the quarter-finals, having lost the first leg in Switzerland 2–0 and fallen 3–0 down on aggregate early in the return leg, Boro fought back to beat FC Basel 4–1 on the night. In the semi-final, after a 1–0 away defeat to Steaua Bucharest, they again overturned a two-goal aggregate deficit to win 4–2 at home; on both occasions, striker Massimo Maccarone scored the decisive late goal. The final itself, played in Eindhoven against Sevilla, brought no fairy-tale ending — Middlesbrough lost 4–0 to a Sevilla side inspired by Enzo Maresca's brace, with captain Gareth Southgate leading his side only to a runners-up medal.
Since 1995, Middlesbrough have played their home matches at the Riverside Stadium, built beside the River Tees after 92 years at Ayresome Park. Known to supporters simply as "Boro", the club has spent much of the following two decades moving between the Premier League and the Championship, but the 2004 League Cup and the run to Eindhoven remain the two defining achievements of its history.