Monterrey return to the Club World Cup aiming to turn past experience into a deep run. Despite a strong continental record, Rayados have never gone beyond the semi-finals and with Inter Milan, River Plate and Urawa in their group, making a mark this summer won’t come easy.
1) Who will Monterrey face at the Club World Cup?
Monterrey have been drawn into Group E and these are their group stage fixtures:
17 June: vs Internazionale Milano. Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.
21 June: vs River Plate. Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.
25 June: vs Urawa Red Diamonds. Rose Bowl, Los Angeles.
2) Domestic silverware
Monterrey are five-times Liga MX champions, most-recently claiming the Apertura title in December 2019, defeating Club América in a dramatic penalty shootout at Estadio Azteca back then. This puts them tenth on the all-time list for most Mexican titles.
3) CONCACAF titles
Despite this relative lack of domestic silverware, Rayados have dominated continental competition in recent years. They have won the CONCACAF Champions Cup an astonishing five times since 2011, with no other club claiming more than two titles during this period. Their most-recent triumph came in 2021, defeating América 1-0 in the final.
4) Current trophy draught
This CONCACAF Champions Cup triumph remains Monterrey's most-recent silverware. They've not won a major domestic trophy for five years, since beating Club Tijuana in the Copa MX Final.
This season, los Albiazules did reach the Liga MX Apertura Final, but were beaten 3-2 by América, yes them again, on aggregate, before being dumped out of the Clausura at the quarter-final stage by Toluca, this their most-recent competitive fixture, taking place as far back as 10 May.
5) Past Club World Cup expirence
As alluded to earlier, having been crowned kings of CONCACAF five times in the last 14 years, Monterrey have plenty of previous FIFA Club World Cup expirence.
In 2011, 2013 and 2021 they were dumped out in the quarter-finals, ousted by Kashiwa Reysol, Raja Casablanca and Al Ahly respectively. However, in 2012 and 2019, Rayados did reach the semis, but were ultimately beaten by Premier League opposition on both occasions, 3-1 at the hands of Chelsea in Yokohama and then 2-1 against Liverpool in Al-Rayyan.
6) Also known as Rayados
Of course, every football club around the world has a nickname, but few are used as interchangeably as Monterrey's. They are commonly known as and widely referred to as Rayados, which directly translates to Striped, owing to the club's traditional navy blue and white colour scheme.
7) Monterrey players to watch: Sergio Ramos
At 39-years-old, centre-back Sergio Ramos is still going strong, set to captain the Mexican club this summer. Since arriving in Nuevo León back in February, the veteran defender has made just nine appearances for Monterrey, but has scored four goals, as well as picking up a customary red card too.
In his distinguished career, Ramos has won 29 major trophies with Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Spain, including the World Cup, two Euros and four Champions Leagues. He is also a four-time Club World Cup winner, scoring three goals in just six appearances at the tournament to date.
8) Monterrey players to watch: Germán Berterame
While Ramos does have a knack for scoring big goals at important moments, Germán Berterame is likely to be Monterrey's most-dangerous attacker this summer.
Since joining in 2022, the strikers has scored 51 times in 123 outings for the club, 22 of which came this season, making him Rayados' top-scorer across all competitions. Born in Argentina, he's become a naturalised Mexican international, debuting for el Tri against USA in Zapopan last October.
This team features a few other, potentially, familiar faces, including ex-Porto and Sevilla winger Tecatito Corono, as well as a pair of Spaniards, namely Óliver Torres and Sergio Canales.
9) Manager Domènec Torrent: learning beside Pep Guardiola
Manager Domènec Torrent will take charge of Monterrey for the very first time at this tournament, having been appointed head coach as recently as 21 May. He replaced Martín Demichelis.
The 62 year old was a long-time Pep Guardiola assistant at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, but has forged a managerial career of his own since 2018. Torrent was in charge of New York City for 18 months, followed by brief spells with Flamengo and then Galatasaray. He then led Atlético de San Luis during the most-recent campaign, doing enough to earn a more high-profile job in Mexico. He's become quite the globetrotter, but appointing Torrent is certainly a risk.
10) Monterrey believing they can reach the knockouts
In a pretty open Group E, Monterrey will fancy their chances of reaching the last 16. They commence their campaign against Internazionale Milano, before taking on River Plate and then Urawa Red Diamonds, facing all three for the very first time.
All of Rayados' group stage fixtures will take place at the iconic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, and they'll certainly be backed by a partisan home crowd in LA, which could help them upset the odds.