As Euro 2024 is about to get underway, there are five former Boro men with a vested interest in this summer’s showpiece competition – with one current face also involved.
The biggest and most obvious is our former captain and manager Gareth Southgate. It is Gareth who leads the country’s hopes and dreams by managing the team in his fourth major tournament.
Our former striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is also a member of Southgate’s backroom team.
The last Euros saw England emerge as runners-up, and the Three Lions are hoping to go one better in Germany this time around.
Also involved in a coaching capacity is Southgate’s former Carling Cup winning team-mate Doriva, who is the assistant manager of Albania.
Doriva played 110 games for Boro, including the whole of that 2004 final, and started in management thanks to another Carling Cup hero at Ituano, the Brazilian team now owned by Juninho.
Doriva played with Albania's head coach Sylvinho at Celta Vigo in Spain.
In terms of players, there are two ex-Boro men set to line up in the tournament.
Striker Andraz Sporar is in the Slovenian squad while Milos Veljkovic could face England on Sunday for Serbia.
While Sporar’s loan spell on Teesside is fresh in the mind – he scored eight goals in 37 games while on loan from Sporting Lisbon in 2021/22 – you have to go back almost ten years for Veljkovic’s loan spell with the club.
He joined Boro from Tottenham in October 2014 and made four appearances before returning to his parent club in the January.
Since then, he has gone on to make over 200 appearances for Werder Bremen.
Flying the flag for Boro of 2024 is first team physio Adam Reed, who is at the tournament as part of Scotland’s medical team.
The popular Reed’s playing career included Darlington and Rochdale, and he also holds the distinction of being Blackburn Rovers’ first post-Premier League title signing.