C.F. Monterrey

• 1. Introduction

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  C.F. Monterrey's first professional match kicked off on the 19th of August 1945. Forward José "Che" Gómez scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over San Sebastián de León. The good feeling didn't last. Monterrey lost 6-0 to Montezuma soon after. Then the club's travelling bus was involved in an accident on the roads near San Juan de los Lagos. The crash killed several of the team's players. Other Mexican clubs loaned Monterrey players out of solidarity, but the season fell apart anyway. The team lost 21 games in a row, conceded 121 goals, and finished last in the league. By 1946, the club stopped playing entirely, in honor of the players who had died.

  That team could not finish its own debut season. By 2020, Monterrey had become the second Mexican club to complete a treble, winning the league, the cup and a continental title in one year. How did its rivalry with a crosstown club grow into one of the most heated derbies in Mexican football? And what convinced the club to leave the stadium it had called home for decades?

• 2. Decades Of Struggle

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  Dr. Carlos Canseco, president of the Asociación de Fútbol de Nuevo León, brought Monterrey back into competition in 1952 after its year away. The club enrolled in the second division and won promotion to the top flight just four years later. The celebration was brief. Monterrey finished last in its first season back and was relegated again. The club's record that year was four wins, seven draws and thirteen losses for fifteen points, one short of Zacatepec's survival total. The club climbed back up in the 1959-60 season and has not been relegated since.

  In the 1960-61 season, Monterrey avoided relegation by just two points over Club Celaya, who finished with nineteen. The following year told nearly the same story: Monterrey finished second-to-last again, one point ahead of a relegated Zacatepec side on eighteen points. Results finally turned in 1963-64, when the club finished third, five points behind champions Guadalajara's total of thirty-seven. Two more third and fourth-place finishes followed, then a mediocre 1966-67 campaign that ended in an eighth-place tie with Irapuato on thirty points each. That same season, a second Monterrey club, Jabatos de Nuevo Leon, won promotion to the first division. For the first time, two teams from the city competed at the top level. The next year was worse still: Monterrey finished 14th, only four points above the relegation zone.

  The 1970 season was split into two short tournaments because Mexico was hosting the World Cup that year. Monterrey finished second in its group with seventeen points, one behind leader Toluca, then finished seventh of eight teams in the second stage. The club reached the quarterfinals the following two seasons, losing on aggregate to Club América by 2-1 and later to Atlético Español by 5-6. On the 5th of July 1975, Monterrey played its first international match, beating the Canadian club Serbian White Eagles FC 2-0 in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. That same year, Portuguese star Eusébio played for the club. In the 1975-76 tournament, Monterrey finished first in the regular phase with forty-four points. The club then beat Cruz Azul 7-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals before losing to Guadalajara 2-3 on aggregate in the semifinals.

  Monterrey entered the 1980s still chasing its first Liga MX title, a wait that a coach named Francisco Avilán would end within a few years.

• 3. Breaking Through

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  Francisco Avilán coached Monterrey to its first Liga MX title in 1986. That year, the league split into two short tournaments because Mexico was hosting the World Cup. In the México 86 tournament, the club topped Group 2 and advanced to the Liguilla against Tampico Madero, Cruz Azul and Chivas Guadalajara. Monterrey thrashed Atlante 6-0 on aggregate in the quarterfinals and eliminated Guadalajara 2-0 on aggregate in the semifinals. In the final, the club beat Tampico Madero 3-2 on aggregate to win the title. Three years later, composer Luis Aguilé wrote the anthem that Monterrey's fans still consider one of the team's symbols of identity.

  Carlos Hermosillo and Manuel Negrete joined Monterrey for the 1990-91 season, two marquee signings for a club with momentum. The following year, Monterrey won its first Copa MX, beating Juárez 4-2 at the Estadio Tecnológico. The club then reached the 1992-93 league final, losing to Atlante. Financial problems set in during the second half of the decade, forcing the club to sell players such as Ramón Morales and Sinha to other teams. Jesus Arellano, a promising young player, was sold to Guadalajara in 1997. He returned to Monterrey in 2000 and captained the side for eleven years before retiring in 2011.

  On the 9th of May 1999, Monterrey faced Puebla at the Estadio Tecnológico in a match that would decide which team was relegated. A draw was enough to keep Monterrey up. Francisco Javier "El Abuelo" Cruz, who had helped win the 1986 title, delivered a memorable performance as the match ended 1-1. That same year, Rayados played their first CONMEBOL Libertadores campaign, exiting in the group stage.

  Argentine coach Daniel Passarella arrived in 2002 and built a competitive side around Guillermo Franco, Walter Erviti, Jesus Arellano and Luis Perez. In the Clausura 2003 semifinals, Monterrey beat arch-rival Tigres for the first time in a Liguilla. The club won the first leg 4-1, lost 2-1 at home, and advanced 5-3 on aggregate. On the 14th of June 2003, Monterrey beat Monarcas Morelia 3-1 on aggregate to win its second league title, seventeen years after the first. Passarella left in 2004, and successor Miguel Herrera reached two more finals. Herrera's Monterrey lost to Pumas in the Apertura 2004 and to Toluca by an aggregate of 6-3 in the Apertura 2005. Guillermo Franco left for Spanish club Villarreal after that defeat, and Herrera was fired in 2007 following a poor Apertura campaign. Ricardo La Volpe took over for the Clausura 2008 and reached the semifinals with new signings Humberto Suazo and Jared Borgetti. The following tournament ended with Monterrey in 14th place.

  In 2009, a new coach arrived and turned Suazo's scoring into the foundation of the club's most dominant era yet.

• 4. The Vucetich Dynasty

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  Víctor Manuel Vucetich took charge of Monterrey in 2009 and built one of the strongest sides in the league's history. His attack was led by Humberto Suazo and new signing Aldo de Nigris. His midfield featured veterans Luis Ernesto Perez and Jesus Arellano alongside Walter Ayovi. His defence was anchored by Jose Maria Basanta, Duilio Davino and goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco. That year, Monterrey won the Apertura 2009 title with a 6-4 aggregate victory over Cruz Azul. The club overturned a 3-1 first-leg deficit to win 4-3, then closed out the tie with a 2-1 win in the second leg. It was the club's third league title, arriving after a six-year wait.

  Suazo left for Spanish club Real Zaragoza before the next tournament, yet Monterrey still finished on top of the table for the first time in its history. The club was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Pachuca. Suazo returned for the Apertura 2010 tournament, and Monterrey beat Santos Laguna in the final for a fourth league title. After losing the first leg 3-2, Monterrey won the second leg 3-0 at the Estadio Tecnológico. Two goals from Suazo and one from Basanta sealed a 5-3 aggregate win.

  Monterrey's first CONCACAF Champions League title followed in the 2010-11 tournament, a 3-2 aggregate win over Real Salt Lake in the final. The next year, the club reached two finals against the same opponent, Santos Laguna. Those were the Clausura 2012 league final and the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League final. Monterrey lost the league final but won the continental final, claiming a second consecutive CONCACAF title.

  In the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League final, Monterrey faced Santos Laguna for a third consecutive year. The first leg ended scoreless. Santos then took a 2-0 lead in the second leg through goals from Darwin Quintero and former Rayados player Felipe Baloy. Monterrey answered with four goals in thirty minutes, a brace from Aldo de Nigris and one each from Humberto Suazo and Neri Cardozo. The comeback delivered a third straight continental title. It was the fifth trophy of the Vucetich era, a run some observers called the best stretch in Mexican club football history.

  Aldo de Nigris left for Chivas ahead of the 2013-14 season, and Walter Ayovi departed for Pachuca. On the 25th of August 2013, Vucetich stepped down as coach. Monterrey now had to replace not just a coach, but the entire spine of a champion team, starting with a new arrival named Dorlan Pabon.

• 5. Heartbreak And Redemption

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  José Guadalupe Cruz took over as manager after Vucetich departed, but Monterrey missed the Apertura 2013 playoffs despite reaching the Copa MX semifinals. After a poor start to the Clausura 2014, the club fired Cruz on the 18th of February 2014, having coached only seventeen league games. Carlos Barra, formerly one of Vucetich's assistants, replaced him and also missed the playoffs, but the club kept him for the 2014-15 season.

  Colombian striker Dorlan Pabon rejoined Monterrey for 2014-15, alongside new signings Stefan Medina and Pablo Barrera. The club finished sixth in the Apertura 2014 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since Vucetich's departure, with Pabon scoring eleven goals. Monterrey lost 3-0 on aggregate to eventual champions Club América in the semifinals. Those proved to be Humberto Suazo's final games before he returned to Colo-Colo. Suazo had scored more than 102 league goals across seven years, making him the club's all-time top scorer at the time.

  The Clausura 2015 began badly, with Monterrey losing four of its first six games. On the 15th of February, the club fired Barra and hired Antonio Mohamed, a two-time Liga MX champion. Mohamed had just led Club América to the previous title. Mohamed had played for Rayados years earlier and had been part of the squad that survived relegation in 1999. Monterrey failed to reach the playoffs in his first tournament, but the club kept faith in him for the 2015-16 season. That year would also bring a move to a new stadium.

  Ahead of the new season, Monterrey signed midfielder Walter Gargano and striker Rogelio Funes Mori, while Jose Maria Basanta returned from Italian side Fiorentina. The reassembled attacking trio of Pabon, Funes Mori and newly signed Edwin Cardona narrowly missed the Apertura 2015 playoffs. Pundits still praised the attack as one of the league's best. In the Clausura 2016, Monterrey won its first three games and finished atop the table with 37 points, seven clear of second-place Pachuca. In the quarterfinals, Monterrey beat arch-rival Tigres 4-3 on aggregate, extending its record of never losing to Tigres in a playoff series.

  Monterrey then beat Club América 4-2 at home in the semifinal second leg, after losing the first leg 1-0 at the Estadio Azteca. Some pundits called it one of the best playoff games in the league's history. Uruguay's call-up of midfielder Carlos Sánchez for the Copa América Centenario meant he missed the final against Pachuca. On the 29th of May, in front of 53,000 fans at the newly inaugurated Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Monterrey and Pachuca played the second leg. Monterrey had lost the first leg 1-0, but Dorlan Pabon's 39th-minute goal leveled the aggregate at 1-1. A header from Victor Guzman in the 93rd minute won the title for Pachuca, a result the Mexican media described as heartbreaking for Monterrey.

  Monterrey returned to the CONCACAF Champions League the following tournament, ending a three-year absence from the competition. The club was eliminated in the group stage, finishing second behind Panamanian side Arabe Unido. In the Apertura 2017, Monterrey again finished first in the regular season and reached the final against Tigres. The first leg ended 1-1, but Tigres won the second leg 2-1 at the Estadio BBVA Bancomer with goals from Eduardo Vargas and Francisco Meza. Mohamed resigned in May 2018 after Club Tijuana eliminated Monterrey from the Clausura 2018 playoffs. He left having won two titles but facing criticism for repeated playoff failures.

  Diego Alonso was appointed coach in July 2018, and Monterrey reached the Copa MX Apertura final that year before losing 2-0 to Cruz Azul. In the CONCACAF Champions League, the club beat Sporting Kansas City 10-2 on aggregate in the semifinal, then defeated Tigres in the final. Fans in the city called the win "the star that shines the most". Alonso was dismissed in the Apertura 2019 after posting more defeats than wins. Antonio Mohamed returned as manager on the 14th of October. Under him, Monterrey advanced to the semifinals of the Club World Cup by beating Al Sadd 3-2. A stoppage-time goal from Roberto Firmino then sent Liverpool through instead. Monterrey then beat Al Hilal on penalties to claim third place in the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup. That same month, despite finishing eighth in the Apertura general table, Monterrey reached the championship final against América. The club won on penalties, 4-2, to claim a fifth league title.

  The next chapter turns from trophies to the rivalry that has shadowed the club since its earliest years at the Estadio Universitario.

• 6. El Clásico Regiomontano

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  Tigres UANL, representing the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, is Monterrey's oldest and fiercest rival. The two clubs first met on the 13th of July 1974 at the Estadio Universitario, a Clásico Regiomontano that ended in a 1-1 draw. Monterrey won the second meeting between the sides, 2-1, becoming the first team to win the derby. Six unofficial games had already been played before that first official Clásico, and Rayados won five of them.

  Early meetings between the sides were played almost exclusively at the Estadio Universitario, drawing average crowds of around 70,000 before the stadium's renovation. On the 24th of March 1996, in a match fans still call the "Clasico del Descenso", Monterrey beat Tigres 2-1 at that stadium. Tigres had needed a win to escape a relegation battle. The defeat sent them down to the Segunda División for the first and only time in the club's history.

  By August 2022, the two clubs had met 128 times in official competition. Tigres had won 47 of those games, Monterrey 42, with 39 draws. Both teams consistently rank among the highest-attended and most expensively assembled squads in Mexican football. Tickets for the Clásico sell out as soon as they go on sale.

  Monterrey has also developed a regional rivalry with Santos Laguna, known as La Nortena, meeting them in four finals and winning three of them. That appetite for grand stages would soon shape the club's decision to leave its home of decades behind.

• 7. Home, Colours And Fans

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  White and blue have been Monterrey's colours since the club's founding in 1945. The exact shade of blue has shifted over the decades, between navy, cobalt and lighter tones. The original uniform split the chest diagonally in blue and white. In 1965, the club adopted vertical stripes after seeing them worn by Tampico Madero, nicknamed the "Jaibas Bravas", or Brave Crabs. That striped shirt became so popular with fans that it gave the club its nickname, Rayados, and has defined the home kit and crest ever since.

  Monterrey played home matches at the Estadio Tecnológico from 1950 to 2015, aside from a spell at the Estadio Universitario between 1973 and 1980. Mexican president Miguel Alemán Valdés opened the Estadio Tecnológico on the 17th of July 1950, making it the second-oldest football stadium in Mexico after the Estadio Azul. The venue hosted four matches at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, when it held 38,000 people, before demolition began in July 2017. Monterrey won its 1986 and Apertura 2010 league titles there, along with the 1991 Copa MX and the 2012-13 CONCACAF Champions League.

  In July 2015, Monterrey moved into the newly built Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, Nuevo León, with a capacity of 53,500. Designed by Christopher Lee of the firm Populous, construction began in October 2011. FEMSA, the club's owner, spent around US$200 million to build it. The project also included plans to reforest and restore the surrounding area. On the 2nd of August 2015, Monterrey inaugurated the stadium with a 3-0 win over Benfica in the eighth edition of the Eusébio Cup. The match was played in front of a sold-out crowd. The stadium's grandstands are angled at 34 degrees, the minimum distance FIFA allows for keeping fans close to the action.

  Los Rayados posted the highest average attendance in Liga MX in 2016, filling the Estadio BBVA Bancomer for around 50,000 fans a game. The club has long emphasized home-grown, or cantera, talent. It has developed internationals such as Francisco Javier Cruz, Jonathan Orozco, César Montes, Jesús Manuel Corona and Jonathan González, among others. At Clásico matches, the rivalry extends to the stands, with Monterrey's La Adicción supporters group facing off against Tigres' Libres y Lokos.

  In 2017, the club launched "Rayados Kids", a YouTube and YouTube Kids series mixing player interviews with original stories tied to the team's league standing. It drew around six thousand subscribers and a million views in its first year. Since 2010, Rayados players have filmed an annual Christmas video for fans. Each year the video features a new rendition of the crowd chant "El Corrido de Monterrey". Its refrain describes fans living "En la Vida y en la Cancha", in life and on the field. That devotion would be tested again as a new decade brought fresh pressure from across the city.

• 8. The New Decade

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  Monterrey opened the new decade with a ten-match winless streak in the Clausura 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the tournament to be abandoned altogether. The club missed the playoffs the following campaign, and Antonio Mohamed stepped down from his role. Javier Aguirre took charge ahead of the Clausura 2021 and led Monterrey to its fifth CONCACAF Champions Cup title. A poor run of results then cost him his job midway through the Clausura 2022. Víctor Manuel Vucetich returned to replace him, beginning a second stint at the helm.

  In October 2022, José Antonio Noriega was appointed sporting director and pursued an ambitious run of marquee signings. Sergio Canales, Jesús Corona, Sergio Ramos, Óliver Torres and Anthony Martial all arrived at the club during his tenure. Despite assembling a star-studded squad, Monterrey reached only one final in that stretch, the Apertura 2024. Under coach Martín Demichelis, the team finished runners-up after a narrow defeat to Club América.

  At the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, Monterrey, now managed by Domènec Torrent, faced Inter Milan, River Plate and Urawa Red Diamonds. The club finished second in its group, advancing to the round of 16, where Borussia Dortmund eliminated them. Noriega left his post as sporting director at the end of the Clausura 2026, after Rayados failed to reach the playoffs. The club now enters a new search for the person who can turn a squad built around Sergio Ramos and Anthony Martial into playoff contenders.