Middlesbrough Football Club – nicknamed "the Boro" – is a professional club based in North Yorkshire that currently competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Founded in 1876, they are among the oldest league clubs, and have played at the Riverside Stadium since 1995, having spent the previous 92 years at Ayresome Park. They were a founding member of the Premier League in 1992 and have spent almost all their professional history in the top two tiers, with their highest league finish being third in 1913–14. The club almost collapsed in 1986 before a consortium led by Steve Gibson saved it, triggering back-to-back promotions and a golden era under Steve McClaren that produced a League Cup win in 2004 and a 2006 UEFA Cup final appearance. As the only major professional club in the Teesside area, they maintain fierce rivalries with Newcastle United and Sunderland, and wear a traditional red kit, with a golden lion crest adopted in 2026 to celebrate their 150th anniversary.