INTERNATIONAL football is set to return to the North-East at the start of next year with the Football Association lining up Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium to stage an England Under-21 international.

England Under-21s will face Belgium on Wednesday, February 29 in a European Championships qualifier, and The Insider has learned that the Riverside is the FA's preferred venue for the game.

The game would be the fifth Under-21 international staged at Middlesbrough's ground, but would be the first since a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in March 2005.

It would kick-start a busy year of international football in the North-East, with Newcastle United's St James' Park due to stage nine matches as part of the Olympic Games football tournament in July and August.

An Under-21 game at the Riverside would be of particular significance to Jason Steele and Joe Bennett, who would both hope to be representing their country on their home ground.

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THE North-East has missed out on another high-profile sporting event, however, as The Insider has discovered that the Professsional Darts Corporation will not be staging the World Cup of Darts in the region next month.

Last December, the inaugural World Cup event was held at Houghton-le-Spring's Rainton Meadows Arena, with Raymond van Barneveld and Co Stompe combining to lift the trophy for Holland.

The PDC's official website is currently displaying the tournament as part of its December 2011 schedule with the details ‘TBC'.

However, The Insider can reveal that the tournament is not now expected to take place next month. Instead, the PDC is hoping to secure a venue to stage the event in Holland next February, enabling van Barneveld and Stompe to defend their title on home soil.

As a result, the PDC's only visit to the North-East will come next May, when Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena hosts the final round of Premier League matches before the competition's play-off stage.

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THERE has been a subtle change to the rules for this year's FA Cup, with home clubs now able to set the prices for matches at their venue.

In the past, both clubs have had to agree on a pricing policy, meaning that the likes of Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough were prevented from offering cut-price deals for matches against lower-league or even non-league opposition.

Now, that will no longer be the case, and if one of the North-East's big three were to draw a minnow in the third round, they could slash prices to improve the attendance.

Hartlepool have already taken advantage of the shift, charging £10 for adults and £5 for children for next weekend's first-round game with Stevenage, even though their opponents are understood to have expressed concern about a potential loss of revenue.