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Monterrey won’t participate in the Concacaf Champions League in 2024; no. Instead, the Mexican club will partake in the first edition of the Concacaf Champions Cup.
Concacaf announced on Tuesday that it was renaming the region’s top international competition. Furthermore, there will be a massive prize money increase, with the winners set to receive $5 million.
However, the bump in prize money is still a far cry from what the winner of the Copa Libertadores makes, but it’s a start in the right direction.
The competition will have five rounds, with 22 teams beginning in the first round. Five teams — the winners of MLS, Liga MX, the Leagues Cup, the Central American Cup and the Caribbean Cup — will receive first round byes and start play in the round of 16.
“The Concacaf Champions Cup will take continental club football in our region to the next level,” Concacaf President and FIFA Vice President, Victor Montagliani, said. “It will elevate leagues and clubs across Concacaf and the new name for the competition, alongside this vibrant new brand, allows us to celebrate our rich history while looking ahead to a great future of international club football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
“The new Concacaf club ecosystem will deliver more of those big rivalry matchups that we know footballers want to play in and that fans want to see. Clubs across the region will have to be at their very best to compete to win the Concacaf Champions Cup and to earn the right to represent the region in the revamped and expanded FIFA Club World Cup which begins in 2025.”
Tato Noriega to Explore the Brazilian Market
Monterrey club president José Antonio ‘Tato’ Noriega is going to a market that the capital has ignored over the last decade, Brazil. RG La Deportiva’s Willie González revealed (h/t Medio Tiempo) that Noriega was going to São Paulo.
González didn’t reveal to the player that the Monterrey club chief would attempt and seal a deal. However, the media outlet speculates that Noriega is zeroing in on São Paulo FC Jonathan Calleri.
Still, no further confirmation as to whether that’s the player Monterrey wants to sign, with rumors flying around that there might be other players of interest in that market.
Nonetheless, Noriega traveling to Brazil is a good sign that Rayados hopefully begins shopping in that market under this new regime.