Heerenveen are the opposition in our final pre-season friendly at the Riverside.
The Dutch side will take on Michael Carrick's men in a 3pm kick-off.
Ahead of the game, mfc.co.uk takes a closer look at the Eredivisie outfit...
The background
Heerenveen arrive on Teesside having won both of their pre-season friendlies so far, beating Dordrecht 4-1 and Rayo Vallecano 5-0.
They begin their Eredivisie campaign away to Ajax next Sunday and will be looking to improve on last season’s 11th-placed finish in the 18-team top flight.
De Superfriezen have operated in the Eredivisie since 1993 and achieved a highest finish of second in 1999/2000.
They were previously serial qualifiers for European competitions, doing so on 16 occasions between 1995 and 2013.
The manager
Kees van Wonderen left his role as head coach at the end of last season and was replaced by Robin van Persie, who is in his first senior management position.
The former Arsenal and Manchester United striker began his coaching journey on the staff of Feyenoord before signing a two-year deal with Heerenveen in May.
His playing career was mainly spent in England, having established himself initially at first-team level with Feyenoord.
van Persie joined Arsenal as a 20-year-old and went on to captain the Gunners during an eight-year stint, winning the FA Cup along the way as well as the Premier League’s golden boot.
He repeated the latter of those achievements in his first season with Manchester United, where, playing alongside Carrick, he also won a league title and joined the Premier League’s 100 goals club.
His playing career ended with spells in Turkey with Fenerbahce and back in the Netherlands with first club Feyenoord.
Internationally, van Persie was a runner-up with the Netherlands in the 2010 World Cup and represented his country 102 times, scoring 50 goals.
Key players
van Persie has overseen a summer of change in the playing squad which has included the departure of last season’s top goalscorer, Pelle van Amersfoort.
Winger Danilo Al-Saed joined from Sandefjord and midfielders Amara Conde and Levi Smans switched from FC Magdeburg and VVV-Venlo respectively.
Among the other arrivals have been winger Ilias Sebaoui on loan from Feyenoord and attacking midfielder Luuk Brouwers on a free transfer from FC Utrecht, having spent last season on loan at Heerenveen.
Heerenveen are captained by Polish defender Pawel Bochniewicz and also in their ranks is Andries Noppert, who was the starting goalkeeper for the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup.
Close links
Boro signed Afonso Alves from Heerenveen in January 2008.
The Dutch striker famously scored a hat-trick in an 8-1 win over Manchester City and a brace in a 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Another player who links the two clubs is Marten de Roon, who represented Boro between 2016 and 2017 following a previous three-year stint with Heerenveen.