The fixture had increased importance in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as the only all North-East fixture of the season, since at the time Newcastle United and Middlesbrough were Premier League teams (while Sunderland was largely outside the top flight at the time). Both teams enjoyed a degree of success in this period: Newcastle qualified in for the Champions League and challenged for the Premier League title. Middlesbrough, with high-profile players including Juninho, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka, reached five major cup finals from 1997 to 2006, including the 2006 UEFA Cup Final and lifting the 2004 League Cup.