England begin preparations for Euro 2020 with Austria in Middlesbrough

England begin their preparations for this summer's European Championship tonight - taking on Austria at the Riverside Stadium.

It's the first game that fans will see Gareth Southgate's squad in action, a day after he chose his final team of 26 for the tournament which begins next week.

Southgate says it was the FA's decision to bring the games to the region - who also had an ambition to have played on Tyneside:

"They wanted to take the team to the North East.

"We were hoping to play at Newcastle (St James' Park) as well. If we had the opportunity with full stadiums and without having to set the stadiums up for Covid, we would've liked to have used both stadiums."

Instead - both tonight's game and the friendly against Romania on Sunday (7th June) will be played at Middlesbrough's ground.

The former Boro captain and manager was a part of the Three Lions team who last played at the Riverside in 2003 against Slovakia.

"I remember playing here in 2003, everybody was hugely proud to host the England team," said Southgate.

"You can see the excitement around the area, so I'm delighted to bring the team here."

The current squad have been training and staying at their base at the Rockliffe Hotel.

Southgate says it's been great for them:

"The training facilities here and the hotel is a fabulous environment.

"It's very relaxed for the boys - some play a bit of golf, the weather has been glorious, we only have to walk across the field to the training ground."

Some fans have come from as far as Surrey and Cornwall - making the long trip north to Teesside for the game.

They are some of the 8,000-strong crowd that have been lucky enough to get tickets.

Kick off tonight is at 8.