Middlesbrough

2025–26 season
Owner	Steve Gibson
Chairman	Steve Gibson
Head Coach	Rob Edwards (until 12 November)[1] Kim Hellberg (from 26 November)[2]
Stadium	Riverside Stadium
Championship	2nd
EFL Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	Morgan Whittaker (11)
Home colours Away colours
← 2024–25 2026–27 →

The2025–26 season is the 150th season in the history ofMiddlesbrough Football Club and their ninth consecutive season in theChampionship. In addition to thedomestic league, the club are also participating in theFA Cup and theEFL Cup.

Prior to the season starting,Rob Edwards was appointed as the new head coach on a three-year contract.^[3] On 12 November, after 15 games in charge and a win ratio of 46.67%, he resigned as head coach to joinWolverhampton Wanderers.^[1] Twelve days later,Kim Hellberg was appointed head coach fromSwedish sideHammarby.^[2]

Date	Pos.	Player	From	Fee	Ref.
1 July 2025	GK	Owen Foster	Hull City	Free	[4]
4 July 2025	CB	Archie Baptiste	Tottenham Hotspur		[5]
25 July 2025	CF	Jayden Carbon	Oxford City	Undisclosed	[6]
	CB	Jack Daley	Newcastle Blue Star	Free transfer	[7]
	CB	Alfie Jones	Hull City	£3,000,000	[8][9]
29 July 2025	DM	Abdoulaye Kanté	Troyes	£2,610,000	[10][11]
4 August 2025	RB	Callum Brittain	Blackburn Rovers	£3,500,000	[12][13]
13 August 2025	RW	Sontje Hansen	NEC Nijmegen	£3,000,000	[14][15]
20 August 2025	CB	Adilson Malanda	Charlotte	£7,364,000	[16][17]
29 August 2025	CF	Kaly Sène	Lausanne-Sport	£1,500,000	[18][19]
1 September 2025	GK	Jon McLaughlin	Swansea City	Free	[20]
	CF	David Strelec	Slovan Bratislava	£8,000,000	[21]
9 January 2026	DM	Leo Castledine	Chelsea	£1,000,000	[22]
15 January 2026	LB	Finley Munroe	Aston Villa	£300,000[a]	[23][24]
3 February 2026	CF	Hinneh Lord Listowell	Asante Kotoko	Undisclosed	[25]

Expenditure: ≈ £30,274,000 (all fees converted intoGBP)

Date	Pos.	Player	To	Fee	Ref.
20 June 2025	GK	Zach Hemming	Chesterfield	£150,000	[26][27]
26 June 2025	CF	Josh Coburn	Millwall	£5,000,000	[28][29]
13 August 2025	CB	Rav van den Berg	Köln	£11,200,000	[30][29][31]
29 August 2025	CAM	Finn Azaz	Southampton	£12,000,000	[32][33]
17 January 2026	LB	Lukas Engel	Real Salt Lake	£740,000	[34][35]
	LW	Charlie Lennon	Barnsley	Undisclosed	[36]

Income: £29,090,000

Date	Pos.	Player	From	Date until	Ref.
19 August 2025	CM	Sverre Nypan	Manchester City	2 February 2026[a]	[37][38]
27 August 2025	LB	Matt Targett	Newcastle United	31 May 2026	[39]
1 September 2025	CM	Alan Browne	Sunderland		[40]
27 January 2026	LW	Jeremy Sarmiento	Brighton & Hove Albion		[41]
2 February 2026	GK	Joe Wildsmith	West Bromwich Albion		[42]

Date	Pos.	Player	To	Date until	Ref.
20 August 2025	CB	Adilson Malanda	Charlotte	31 December 2025	[16]
29 August 2025	LW	Charlie Lennon	Darlington	17 January 2026[a]	[43][44][36]
31 August 2025	LB	Neto Borges	Bristol City	31 May 2026	[45]
1 September 2025	CF	Marcus Forss	Bolton Wanderers		[46]
	CM	Law McCabe	Plymouth Argyle	5 January 2026[b]	[47][48]
2 September 2025	CDM	Daniel Barlaser	Hibernian	31 May 2026	[49]
26 September 2025	CDM	Luke Woolston	South Shields	2 January 2026	[50]
25 October 2025	RW	Max Howells	Darlington	31 May 2026[c]	[51][52][44]
11 November 2025	RW	Frankie Coulson	Morpeth Town	9 December 2025	[53]
13 January 2026	CF	Sonny Finch	South Shields	31 May 2026	[54]
29 January 2026	LW	Delano Burgzorg	Bristol City		[55]
30 January 2026	CDM	Abdoulaye Kanté	Saint-Étienne		[56]
2 February 2026	CF	Jayden Carbon	Ross County		[57]

Date	Pos.	Player	Subsequent club	Join date	Ref.
30 June 2025	CB	Jack Hannah	Queen of the South	1 July 2025	[58][59]
	CM	Jack Stott			[58][60]
	CB	Cain Sykes	South Shields		[58][61]
	CB	Afonso Lindo	Iberia 1999	15 July 2025	[58][62]
	RB	Nathan Simpson	Chester-le-Street Town	22 July 2025	[58][63]
	RB	Anfernee Dijksteel	Kocaelispor	28 July 2025	[58][64]
	CB	Alfie Myers-Smith	Darlington	1 August 2025	[58][65]
	CF	Daniel Nkrumah	Wealdstone	8 August 2025	[58][66]
	CM	Jonny Howson	Leeds United	11 August 2025	[67][68]
	LW	Pharrell Willis	Columbus Crew	21 August 2025	[58][69]
	RB	Terrell Agyemang	Morecambe	27 August 2025	[58][70]
	LB	George Gitau	Dagenham & Redbridge	1 November 2025	[58][71]
1 September 2025	GK	Tom Glover			[72]

Date	Pos.	Player	Contracted until	Ref.
2 October 2025	CM	Isaac Greenup	Undisclosed[a]	[73]
9 October 2025	RWB	Rio Patterson-Powell		[74]
17 November 2025	CF	Cruz Ibeh		[75]
4 December 2025	CF	Layton Campbell		[76]
22 December 2025	GK	Sol Brynn	30 June 2030	[77]
6 January 2026	CB	Oliver Martin	Undisclosed[a]	[78]

On 27 May, Middlesbrough announced their first pre-season friendly, againstRangers.^[79] A week later, a second fixture was confirmed, againstHartlepool United.^[80] A third trip was later added againstBradford City.^[81] A home friendly was later announced, againstDeportivo La Coruña.^[82] On 4 July, a trip toMansfield Town was added.^[83]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

On 26 June theChampionship fixtures were announced, with Middlesbrough hostingSwansea City on the opening weekend.^[85]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

Stoke City v Middlesbrough

21 January 202628	Stoke City	1–2	Middlesbrough	Stoke-on-Trent
20:00 GMT	Rigo 15'	Report	Browne 48' Conway 59'	Stadium:bet365 Stadium Attendance: 20,992
Note: Fixture was initially scheduled for a 19:45 kick-off, but was rescheduled for liveSky Sports broadcasting.[88]

Middlesbrough vPreston North End

24 January 202629	Middlesbrough	4–0	Preston North End	Middlesbrough
12:30GMT	Browne 9', Conway 28',54', Whittaker 42'	Report	Storey 50'	Stadium:Riverside Stadium
Note: Fixture was initially scheduled for a 15:00 kick-off, but was rescheduled for liveSky Sports broadcasting.[88]

Middlesbrough were drawn away toFulham in the third round.^[92][93]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

Middlesbrough were drawn at home toDoncaster Rovers in the first round.^[94][95]

  Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

As of match played 9 February 2026

Players with no appearances are not included on the list;italics indicate loaned in player

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Championship		FA Cup		EFL Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2	DF	ENG	Callum Brittain	27	0	26+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
3	DF	ENG	Matt Targett	29	2	26+2	2	1+0	0	0+0	0
5	DF	CAN	Alfie Jones	23	1	22+0	1	0+0	0	1+0	0
6	DF	ENG	Dael Fry	19	2	11+6	2	0+1	0	0+1	0
7	MF	ENG	Hayden Hackney	33	5	31+0	4	1+0	1	0+1	0
8	MF	AUS	Riley McGree	13	3	8+5	3	0+0	0	0+0	0
9	FW	SCO	Tommy Conway	33	7	30+1	7	1+0	0	1+0	0
11	FW	ENG	Morgan Whittaker	32	11	27+3	11	1+0	0	1+0	0
12	DF	ENG	Luke Ayling	31	1	25+4	1	1+0	0	1+0	0
13	FW	SVK	David Strelec	17	3	10+7	3	0+0	0	0+0	0
14	MF	IRL	Alex Gilbert	14	1	7+6	1	1+0	0	0+0	0
15	DF	ENG	Finley Munroe	1	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
16	MF	IRL	Alan Browne	26	3	15+10	3	1+0	0	0+0	0
17	FW	ENG	Micah Hamilton	5	0	1+3	0	0+0	0	0+1	0
18	MF	USA	Aidan Morris	27	0	22+3	0	1+0	0	0+1	0
20	FW	SEN	Kaly Sène	21	2	5+16	2	0+0	0	0+0	0
22	FW	AUS	Samuel Silvera	20	2	8+11	2	1+0	0	0+0	0
23	MF	ENG	Leo Castledine	3	0	1+2	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
24	DF	SLE	Alex Bangura	8	0	6+2	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
25	DF	ENG	George Edmundson	6	0	3+3	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
26	DF	IRL	Darragh Lenihan	2	0	1+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
27	FW	CUW	Sontje Hansen	13	1	3+9	1	0+1	0	0+0	0
28	MF	ENG	Law McCabe	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
29	DF	FRA	Adilson Malanda	7	0	6+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
31	GK	ENG	Sol Brynn	32	0	31+0	0	1+0	0	0+0	0
40	DF	ENG	George McCormick	2	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
44	FW	ENG	Cruz Ibeh	1	0	0+0	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
45	FW	ECU	Jeremy Sarmiento	2	0	0+2	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
47	DF	ENG	Archie Baptiste	1	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
Players who featured but departed the club on loan during the season:
10	FW	SUR	Delano Burgzorg	27	2	11+14	2	0+1	0	1+0	0
21	FW	FIN	Marcus Forss	2	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	0+1	0
30	DF	BRA	Neto Borges	4	0	0+3	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
42	MF	CIV	Abdoulaye Kanté	5	0	1+3	0	0+0	0	1+0	0
Players who featured but departed the club permanently during the season:
19	MF	NOR	Sverre Nypan	21	0	3+17	0	0+1	0	0+0	0
20	MF	IRL	Finn Azaz	2	1	1+1	1	0+0	0	0+0	0
23	GK	AUS	Tom Glover	1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	1+0	0

As of match played 9 February 2026

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Player	Championship			FA Cup			EFL Cup			Total
1	5	DF		Alfie Jones	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1
	12	DF		Luke Ayling	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
3	2	DF		Callum Brittain	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0
	14	MF		Alex Gilbert	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0
5	7	MF		Hayden Hackney	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0
6	3	DF		Matt Targett	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
	9	FW		Tommy Conway	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
	11	FW		Morgan Whittaker	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
	22	FW		Samuel Silvera	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0
10	10	FW		Delano Burgzorg	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	13	FW		David Strelec	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	19	MF		Sverre Nypan	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
	20	FW		Kaly Sène	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0
14	8	MF		Riley McGree	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	16	MF		Alan Browne	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	18	MF		Aidan Morris	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	25	DF		George Edmundson	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	26	DF		Darragh Lenihan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	27	FW		Sontje Hansen	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
	42	MF		Abdoulaye Kanté	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Totals					47	0	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	50	0	1