Much of Wrexham AFC’s century and a half as a football team in North Wales is easily forgotten. The club has never played in the top tier of English soccer, nor has it ever won any major trophies.
That history took a dramatic and unexpected turn in 2021. Although Wrexham still had no major trophies, it had gained a pair of co-owners who were Hollywood actors, determined to rewrite the fifth-tier club’s fortunes in two big ways. Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney hoped they could turn it into a winner. But they were certain they could turn the Wrexham man into a TV star.
As it happened, both goals are coming true. Two years after the actors bought the club for some $2.5 million and put it at the center of a popular documentary series, “Welcome to Wrexham,” the club won promotion to the fourth tier of English soccer with a 3-1 win on Saturday. sealed up. The Boreham Wood result prompted hysterical celebrations on the field, led by Reynolds and McElhenney, chanting the name of a club they had never heard of a decade earlier.
“Everything I have smells like champagne, beer and grass. I’m still somewhere between laughing and crying,” Reynolds said. “This city and this game are one of the most romantic things on earth.” Is. Thank you, Wrexham AFC.”
Americans had been piling on English football for years. More than a third of all Premier League clubs are owned by American billionaires, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. And some more daring Americans have tried their luck with clubs in the second tier, hoping to earn promotion and the financial windfall that comes with it.
But nobody had attempted anything like the Wrexham project. After the fans bought in with the full support of the vote, the new owners tried to reassure them that they were in it for the long haul. For one, McElhenney and Reynolds promised not to do what European supporters see as the cardinal sin of American sports: relocating the team. He therefore entered into a 25-year agreement to finance Wrexham’s lease at their home stadium, the Racecourse Ground.
That was just the beginning. The presence of the new owners, accompanied by TV cameras, was enough to generate an unprecedented surge of interest for the fifth-tier club. Wrexham soon signed sponsorship deals with TikTok and travel booking website Expedia. This season, its FA Cup qualifying matches were shown on ESPN in the US and on social media, the club’s presence skyrocketed. It now has 721,000 Instagram followers, 10 times more than its nearest National League rival, Notts County.
“I think we can hear what this means for the city,” McElhenney said inside Wrexham’s 11,000-capacity stadium. ,
Even Prince William—technically the Prince of Wales—couldn’t help but notice.
“Congratulations Wrexham AFC!” he tweeted on Saturday. “A club with such an amazing history, looking forward to a very exciting future in the Football League. Doing Wales Proud.”
Wrexham’s road to high-level football relevance is still long. The club would need three more promotions – and potentially several hundred million dollars – to reach the top tier of English soccer, the Premier League. For now, though, one hype is enough for a unique Hollywood-North Wales crossover story. Not only will Wrexham be playing in League Two for the first time since 2008, the TV show has also been renewed for a second season.