Monterrey

1940s–50s

Club de Football Monterrey was founded on 28 June 1945, near the end of World War II by a group of industrial businessmen headed by Ramón Cárdenas Coronado, Enrique Ayala Medina, Paul C. Probert, Rogelio Cantú Gómez and Miguel Margáín Zozaya.

The team's nickname was popularly accepted, after the team's uniform, which is traditionally white with navy blue vertical stripes. Although the original uniform was white with a diagonal blue upper shoulder, the stripes were inspired in 1965, when the Tampico Madero (nicknamed "Jaibas Bravas", or Brave crabs) football team wore them, and the Monterrey team adopted them. Since then, the home uniform consists of vertical blue and white striped jerseys with blue shorts.

In its first professional game, played on 19 August 1945 against San Sebastián de León, Monterrey won 1–0, with José "Che" Gómez scoring the winner. That joy quickly came to an end, first by losing 6–0 to Montezuma, and then having the club's travelling bus involved in a tragic accident in the San Juan de los Lagos roads that would take the lives of many of the club's players and had a big impact on the surviving players. The other Mexican clubs in solidarity loaned players to Monterrey to continue playing the tournament, but the club struggled nevertheless; they lost 21 games in a row and conceded 121 goals that year, finishing last in the league. Due to these events, the club decided to stop playing in the league in 1946 in honor of the players who died.

It was not until 1952 when the club resumed action thanks to Dr. Carlos Canseco, president of the Asociación de Fútbol de Nuevo León. The club enrolled in the second division and just 4 years later the club earned promotion to the top division. Once again the joy was short-lived, when the club finished last in their first year back and was relegated once again to the second division after finishing with a record of 4 wins, 7 draws and 13 losses for a total of 15 points, just 1 short of Zacatepec who earned their permanence in the category. The club would once again earn the promotion in the 1959–60 season, and haven't been relegated since then.

1960s

The club started off the 1960s in bad shape, barely avoiding relegation with only 2 more points than Club Celaya, who had 19 points, in the 1960–61 season.

In 1960, C.F. Monterrey got into the first division. 20 March 1960, with a score of 2–0, Monterrey beat the Tigers. The lineup that had won that title was: Agustin "Chiras" Prieto, Humberto Gama, Pablo Thompson, Héctor Uzal, and Jesús "La Chuta" Medina; Eugenio Almirón and Angel Lama; Julián Briseño, Gustavo "Gato" Cuenca, José Antonio Juárez, and Nicolás "Pipo" Téllez.

Once, while still in the second division, they also won a championship on 12 June 1960, after defeating Ovideo de Texcoco 1–0, the goal being scored by Agustin "Chiras" Prieto, who was one of the club's top 3 goal scorers during that year.

In the 1963–64 season the club improved their performance and would finish 3rd in the league just 5 points behind champions Guadalajara who had 37 points. In the following two seasons the club would finish third and fourth respectively, narrowly missing out on clinching titles by only a few points. The 1966–67 season was mediocre, as the club finished tied for 8th in the league with Irapuato on 30 points each. This season is also remembered for Jabatos de Nuevo Leon's promotion to the first division, which meant 2 clubs from Monterrey would be participating in the first division However, the following season was even worse, with the club finishing 14th, only four points from relegation.

1970s

In 1970 the tournament was split into 2 short tournaments, due to the 1970 World Cup that was taking part in Mexico. In the first stage, the club was placed in group 1 where they managed to finish 2nd with 17 points, one less than group leader Toluca. In the second stage the club finished 7th of eight teams. The following year Monterrey finished runner up to Club América who went on to win the league title that year against Toluca.

In the 1971–72 tournament the club qualified for the play-offs which had been introduced a few years back. The club would lose in quarterfinals to Club América 2–1 on aggregate. The following year the club missed out on the playoffs, finishing tied for 5th with Veracruz and Guadalajara each with 32 points. The following season the club managed to qualify for the quarterfinals where they once again were eliminated, this time by Atlético Español 5–6 on aggregate.

Monterrey played its first match in international tournaments on 5 July 1975 in the 1975 CONCACAF Champions' Cup when they defeated Canadian club Serbian White Eagles FC by a score of 2–0.

In the 1975–76 tournament the club finished in first place with a total of 44 points by means of 16 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses. In quarterfinals the club played Cruz Azul and won 7–2 on aggregate. In the semi-finals the club played against Guadalajara who eliminated them, 2–3 on aggregate. During 1975, the Portuguese superstar Eusébio played for the club.

In the 1976–77 and 1977–78 seasons, the club failed to qualify for the playoffs, finishing 4th both times. In the 1978–79 tournament the club once again qualified to the playoffs finishing 1st in group one with a total of 40 points by means of 14 wins 12 draws and 12 losses. This time a short tournament was played by the best 8 teams in the league who were then split into 2 groups. Monterrey was placed in group 2 along with Pumas, Tigres and Zacatepec. After 6 rounds of play the club finished in 3rd place with 6 points, just 2 points behind Pumas who went on to lose against Cruz Azul, the winners of the other group.