Wrexham AFC

Wrexham Association Football Club is a football club from Wales (United Kingdom), based in the town of Wrexham, in the north-east of the country. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football, following its promotion in the 2024–25 season. Founded on 28 September 1864, it is traditionally regarded as one of the oldest football clubs in the world, the third-oldest professional club still in existence, and the oldest club in Wales. It plays its home matches at the Racecourse Ground (known as STōK Cae Ras for sponsorship reasons), which has a capacity of 15,500 spectators.

Nicknamed The Red Dragons, Wrexham AFC is considered one of the three big clubs in Welsh football, alongside Cardiff City FC and Swansea City AFC. Because Wales had no national league of its own between 1921 and 1992, the leading Welsh clubs competed within the English football league system during that period. In 1992 the League of Wales (now the Cymru Premier) was established, but these three clubs chose to remain in the English system. As for cup competitions, until 1995 Welsh clubs playing in England were allowed to take part in the Welsh Cup. Wrexham is the most successful club in that competition, with 23 titles (the most recent in 1995). However, Wrexham is the only one of the three big Welsh clubs never to have won a top-flight English title.

Despite its long history and its traditional standing as one of the most important teams in Wales, the club has not achieved major success at international level. In the 1990–91 European Cup Winners’ Cup, it was knocked out by Manchester United FC. However, it pulled off one of the biggest upsets in English football in January 1992, when it beat Arsenal FC 2–1 and knocked them out of the 1991–92 FA Cup. That historic match against the Gunners, who had been league champions the previous season, earned Wrexham the nickname “giant killers.”

In November 2020, the purchase of the club by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor Rob McElhenney, through RR McReynolds Company LLC, was made official, replacing the previous board led by the Wrexham Supporters Trust. Following the takeover, the club adopted a global communications strategy built around a documentary television series, Welcome to Wrexham, which premiered on FX in 2022. The series follows the events after the takeover and features the owners, club staff and volunteers, fans, and some of the players. Streamed on Disney+, it has put Wrexham, both the town and the club, on the radar of tourists and fans around the world.

In the 2024–25 season, the club achieved a historic feat by becoming the first team in the history of the English football league system to win three consecutive promotions. Between the 2022–23 and 2024–25 seasons, it rose from the National League (fifth tier) to the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.