Archive July 1, 2025

Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos playing in the knockout stages of a Fifa Club World Cup might not feel that noteworthy – except it is for Mexican club Monterrey.

It surprised many when the 39-year-old, considered one of football’s greatest centre-backs, rocked up at Monterrey in February.

With five goals – all headers and penalties – and a red card in his first 12 games for the club, he is already replaying all his greatest hits.

And the captain has led them to the last 16 of the Club World Cup, where they play Borussia Dortmund in Atlanta at 02:00 BST on Wednesday.

“I’d like to end my football career on a victorious note,” he told Fifa in the build-up to the tournament.

“That opportunity to easily contribute and play in these kinds of competitions is what made my competitive spirit kick in and convinced me to join the club.”

Players do not come much more decorated than Ramos. His spell at Real Madrid, where he made 671 appearances, resulting in four Champions Leagues and five La Liga titles. Plus four Fifa Club World Cups.

He was a key cog in one of international football’s most dominant teams as he won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 during his 180-cap Spain career.

But by February 2025 he had not played competitive football for almost nine months, having ended his second spell at Sevilla at the end of 2024-25.

And so came the call from Monterrey, who are also known by their nickname of Rayados.

They are five-time champions of Mexico – and five-time Concacaf Champions League winners – including in 2021, which meant they would compete in this summer’s Club World Cup.

Ramos accepted the offer, a one-year deal to become Monterrey’s top earner.

Rayados president Jose Antonio Noriega spoke to the Athletic in February about how they persuaded Ramos to join.

“It’s a package deal. There is no single aspect, Sergio is not convinced by just one thing,” said Noriega, a former midfielder for Monterrey and Mexico.

“We are a team that fights for titles and that attracts Sergio. But surely that wouldn’t be enough.

“It’s a serious team with a good reputation and the city is nice. It’s an accumulation of things that Sergio found fulfilling. Also the fact that each year there are five championships and one of them this year is the Club World Cup, which is special.”

He added: “We knew there was a market for Sergio. We heard about the interest from San Diego FC, from some clubs in Brazil and some in Saudi Arabia.

“Let me tell you a metaphor – it’s like when you want to fall in love with a girl. The only way to make a girl fall in love is to be yourself. We were like that with Ramos.

Ramos took the 93 shirt number for a fairly unique reason.

That was the minute of his header to force extra time in the 2013 Champions League final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid – which his side went on to win to complete ‘La Decima’, their long-awaited 10th European title.

He went straight in as Rayados captain and has already ticked off all the things that defined him during his career.

In 12 games he has scored five goals – which takes his career goal tally to 145. Three headers and two penalties.

One of those goals was against Inter Milan in this tournament.

He has also managed a red card for kicking an opponent.

“It was obvious I couldn’t leave this league without a red card,” he wrote on social media with a winking emoji.

He has also been impressed by Monterrey’s fans.

“The passion of the fans has really blown me away,” he told Fifa.

“I had only ever visited the country on holiday, so I had a different perspective.

Monterrey are not considered one of Mexico’s very biggest clubs – with nine clubs having won more titles.

But their average attendance in the Mexican league was higher than anyone else last season, 44,145.

Their owners are rich – Femsa is a multinational company based in Monterrey who are famous for their part in the drinks industry.

Before signing Ramos, fellow Spaniards Sergio Canales – who won 11 caps and played for Real Madrid – and Oliver Torres were already at the club.

Ramos, Torres, Jesus Corona and Lucas Ocampos have all played for Sevilla.

Not long before the tournament though, the focus was on the manager.

In April, midfielder Canales badly cut his leg after kicking a glass door following an argument with Martin Demichelis.

The following month Demichelis, the former Manchester City and Argentina defender, was sacked after losing in the Liga MX quarter-finals.

And in his place came Catalan Domenec Torrent, who was assistant manager to Pep Guardiola at Barcelona B, their first team, Bayern Munich and Manchester City before leaving in 2018 to become a manager.

These have been Torrent’s first three games in charge of Rayados, draws with Inter Milan and River Plate and a 4-0 win over Urawa Reds.

In that Inter game they made headlines for an unusual split wall for a free-kick – where they had two walls and a gap in between in front of the goalkeeper.

Anything else? Oh yes, Monterrey and Scottish side Dundee announced a link-up in November.

Boycotts, protests and even a hunger strike. These are not events normally associated with the aftermath of winning a World Cup.

But for Spain, triumph was overshadowed by controversy.

What should have been a moment of celebration – the team’s historic triumph at the 2023 Women’s World Cup – turned into something else entirely.

Instead of celebrating their first major trophy, the squad found themselves at the centre of a sexism scandal.

Just as Spain were getting ready to lift the World Cup trophy, Luis Rubiales – the country’s football federation president – kissed striker Jenni Hermoso on the lips.

It was a kiss that Rubiales said was consensual, but Hermoso said was not.

What followed was a storm of criticism, widespread protests and a court case that found Rubiales guilty of sexual assault. Rubiales’ mother, in defence of her son, went on hunger strike.

Hermoso said the incident had “stained one of the happiest days” of her life.

In the immediate aftermath, 81 players – including all 23 World Cup winners – said they would not play for Spain again while Rubiales was in charge.

“They were incredibly brave, but the truth is they were terrified,” said Amanda Gutierrez, president of Futpro, the union that helped the players in their fight against the RFEF, Spain’s football association.

“Their careers were on the line.”

So have things actually changed?

“The players were heard, there’s no doubt about that,” Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague said.

Gutierrez explained that – under pressure from the players and the Spanish government – the RFEF promised to improve the players’ working conditions and provide equal access to the same resources the men’s side had.

“Let’s just say there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Gutierrez, who added that the changes have been happening “gradually”.

Spanish football journalist Alex Ibaceta added: “The players put up with a lot of stuff, but they’ve set a limit and if it goes below that, they won’t tolerate it.

“We’ve seen it before, these players are willing to give up the national team shirt to sign up for what they believe in.”

While the promised changes might be slow, Gutierrez believes the players should be proud of themselves for achieving structural changes for the generations to come.

Jorge Vilda may have delivered World Cup glory to Spain, but he will be remembered in a negative light by some for his role in their triumphant run.

The head coach, who was booed by some fans after the final, had survived a player revolt before the tournament and was viewed as one of Rubiales’ closest allies.

By his side on the touchline was Montse Tome, his assistant coach who became his successor a few weeks after the final whistle blew in Australia.

The decision to appoint the former Spain midfielder was not a popular one.

Tome, who had never previously been a head coach, was seen as a continuation of the previous regime, while many thought the world champions deserved a world-class coach.

“The thing is, before the World Cup when she was Vilda’s assistant, players liked her,” Spanish journalist Maria Tikas said. “She was the person in the staff that they could talk to, and she was close to the players.

“But after the World Cup, she changed and they didn’t like her because if you remember when Rubiales said ‘I’m not going to step aside’, Montse Tome was applauding.”

Slowly but surely, tensions have reduced for Tome but it was been a rollercoaster start to the 43-year-old’s tenure.

While she was at the helm as Spain won the inaugural Women’s Nations League in February 2024, their fourth-place finish five months later at the Paris Olympics was deemed a failure.

“In terms of experience, Luis de la Fuente didn’t have much experience at senior level, and it worked well,” Balague said.

When Tome named her 23-player squad, which included 11 World-Cup winning players, there was one notable absence. Jenni Hermoso.

The 35-year-old had featured in all six qualifiers, but was left out of the final four squads in the lead-up to the tournament in Switzerland.

Had she been punished for speaking out? Or was it purely a performance-based decision from Tome?

“If Montse had a personal vendetta against those that spoke out, you wouldn’t have Irene Paredes or Alexia Putellas in the team. And obviously, they’re there,” Balague said.

“You cannot carry legends just for being legends.”

While Hermoso is absent, Patri Guijarro and Claudia Pina have returned to the squad after making themselves unavailable for Spain’s successful World Cup run.

The pair were part of ‘Las 15’ – a group of 15 players that withdrew from the squad in September 2022 after raising concerns over their emotional state and health, and directing complaints towards Vilda.

Most players made themselves available again for the 2023 World Cup, although only three were called up for the tournament, but Guijarro and Pina remained steadfast.

“They lost out on probably one of the most important tournaments in Spain, both on and off the pitch, and that as a player is crushing because you’re missing it by standing up for something that’s out of your control and shouldn’t be happening,” Ibaceta said.

The Barcelona pair ended their exile last year, with changes promised by the RFEF and the attitude of their team-mates aiding their return.

“If Patri and Pina came back, it’s because the federation made changes to everything,” Ibaceta added.

Spain were given an 8% chance of winning the World Cup in 2023.

Not only had they struggled in previous major tournaments, they arrived in New Zealand with a divided squad amid a backdrop of unrest.

“I still don’t know how they won the World Cup, because of this,” said Tikas. “It felt impossible, and not because of football, because of this.”

But against the odds, the team put aside their aside their differences and swept away the opposition to get their hands on the most coveted trophy in women’s football.

“I make comparisons with England when they won the Euros and everything changed for good,” Tikas added.

“When they woke up in Spain there should have been a boom, to increase the interest, increase the marketing and increase everything. And it was not like that, because of all the politics.”

Things seem different this time around as Tome’s side head to Switzerland with Opta giving them a 25% chance of victory.

“Now they are really like a group, a team, a family,” Tikas explained.

Ibaceta added: “Now things are more or less settled and the players can get on with their football. That has a big impact mentally on players. They can actually focus on winning the Euros.

Blair Kinghorn tapped the keycard on his hotel room door at just before midnight on Monday, the long journey from Paris to Dubai to Brisbane now complete, his bed beckoning.

He flicked on the light, threw the bags on the floor and made himself at home. At which point, Maro Itoje popped his head up to say hello.

“I was thinking ‘surely there won’t be anyone in the room’. I was like, ‘Oh sorry! You were asleep, weren’t you?’ It was funny. He woke up, shook my hand and then went straight back to sleep.”

He may have landed a little too unceremoniously for his captain’s liking, but the last and one of the most decorated Lions is here now.

It’s been quite a season and a half at Toulouse since Kinghorn’s move from Edinburgh at the end of 2023. A Champions Cup win over Leinster in 2024 after extra time. He played full-back, kicked four penalties in a narrow win and was on the field for the full 100 minutes.

Next, the Top 14 semi-final and final. Played left wing in both, scored a try in both and made it two trophies in one month and three days, two more than he managed in his previous eight seasons with Edinburgh.

This was fantasy stuff. The thing about dreams is that you normally wake up. Kinghorn is still in that happy place having won another Top 14 title last weekend, again on the wing, again after extra time, again with a 100-minute contribution.

Social media carried a shot of him in the mixed zone at the Stade de France, standing around chatting in his Toulouse-branded underpants, as you do.

After the final the champions got back to their hotel in Paris at 3am Sunday morning, partied, and then Kinghorn headed for the airport. How much sleep did he get? “Confidential,” he said, with a smile that told you nothing and yet told you everything.

You’d have expected him to fetch-up for a chat in Brisbane looking a little ropey, but adrenaline was getting him through. These are the best of days for the Scot. At every turn, there’s a new adventure.

“It’s been a massive focus on winning the Top 14 with Toulouse,” he said, at the side of the pitch at the Lions training base in east Brisbane.

Kinghorn’s fantastic versatility is part of why he’s here. Full-back is, in his own words, his favourite position, and it’s where he plays his Test rugby. He’s played five of his last six games for Toulouse on the left wing and he’s also played right wing. He scored a try for Scotland against the Wallabies while playing 10.

“I’ve played the majority of my rugby at full-back, so I still say that’s probably my best position,” the 28-year-old says. “At club level, it’s different. We have positions, but we don’t really have positions. Everything’s interchangeable, it’s not structured, so you’re floating around. Winger’s the same as a full-back in most instances.”

On the night the Lions were playing the Pumas in Dublin, Kinghorn was playing Bayonne in the Top 14 semi-final in Lyon. When the Lions were going up against Western Force in Perth, Kinghorn was running out in front of French president Emmanuel Macron and 80,000 others in Paris for the domestic final against European champions Bordeaux. It turned out to be an all-time classic.

He continues: “I was so focused on finishing the season well with Toulouse that I hadn’t many thoughts about [the Lions]. I tried to keep them at the back of my head just because I wanted to stay in the moment. Now I can turn my full attention to this and it’s really exciting.

Did Andy Farrell or any of the Lions coaches keep him up to speed with what was going on in their camp? “No, I think all the coaches understand how intense it is to be in the knockout stages of your league competition. They all know that overloading information is not going to help anyone.

“The next couple of days will be head-in-the-book days for me, I just need to learn everything and catch up with where the boys are at. Hopefully I’ll catch on pretty quickly. All I can do is learn as fast as I can and show what I can do if I get the chance to play.”

He’s got some ground to make up, for sure. Elliot Daly is the early Lions pace-setter at full-back and Hugo Keenan has a big opportunity against the Queensland Reds on Wednesday. Best-case scenario is that Kinghorn starts against the Waratahs on Saturday. That’s game three in Australia. There are only two more after that before we get to the Test series.

Toulouse has been the most extraordinary move for him. Everything is different there, he says. “The squad is so deep and so talented that you’ve got to be on top of your game. You’ve got to come into training every day and work hard. Coaches are on your back the whole time, which is great. It’s high pressure, but it makes you thrive.

“Having great players and great coaches around you does make you a better player. The way that Toulouse see the game is similar to the way I like to play, so it’s matched up nicely there. Competition for places, consistency of training, high pressure.”

Back in April, Kinghorn picked up a knee injury and missed two months of the season, a blessing in disguise in a sense. “I was injured for eight weeks. It’s never fun, but it freshened the brain up a little bit.”