Spain’s Sergio Ramos, a FIFA World Cup and two-time European Championship winner, has been unveiled by Mexico’s Monterrey Rayados in one of the most surprising transfers in recent soccer history.
Ramos, who has won almost every major prize in global football, spent 16 years at Real Madrid before a two-year spell alongside Argentina’s Lionel Messi at Paris Saint-Germain. Now aged 38, the center-back will ply his trade in Mexico for the 2025 season.
Monterrey is one of Mexico’s largest clubs, boasting five Mexican First Division championships as well as three Copa México titles. The club plays at the 53,500-seat Estadio BBVA in the state of Nuevo León, and only narrowly lost the 2024 Clausura championship to Mexico City’s Club America last year.
The Spanish defender should feel right at home in Mexico, as the Monterrey team features not one, but three former teammates. Sergio Canales played alongside Ramos at Real Madrid, while Oliver Torres and Argentina’s Lucas Ocampos both played at Ramos’s boyhood football club, Sevilla.
“I thank them for the welcome,” Ramos explained to the Spanish newspaper El País, before revealing that he had turned down significant offers from Europe, the United States and Saudi Arabia’s highly lucrative Pro League. “Rayados gives me…balance, with a lot of ambition to grow and with the option of playing national and international competitions, such as the Club World Cup.”
Prior to his signing with Monterrey, Ramos had been out of contract with Sevilla, playing his last game on May 26, 2024. In Mexico, he will wear the number 93, a reference to his 93rd-minute winning goal against Atlético Madrid in the 2014 UEFA Champions League final.
Ramos shot to international superstardom as part of the 2008-2012 Spanish national team, considered by many to be the greatest international side of all time, winning three back-to-back championships in Europe and at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He is Spain’s most capped player, representing the country internationally for 16 years throughout 180 appearances.
While some critics have suggested that Ramos’s move to Monterrey is a way of collecting a final paycheck before retirement, the Spaniard has disagreed. “It is the most epic moment of my career and I want to share that greatness of Real Madrid with Rayados,” Ramos told assembled members of the press.
“Physically, I am fine. I hope that in two or three weeks, I can adapt to the group dynamics [of Monterrey] to play as soon as possible,” he added.
