All the ingredients were there to make a movie worthy of Hollywood, on Saturday April 22, in Wrexham, a town of 42,000 inhabitants in North Wales. Leading at home after 42 seconds of play, the Red Dragons defeated Boreham Wood (3-1) to win the National League (English fifth division) title and their first trophy in 45 years.

A historic club

The spectators then invaded the lawn, while the American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, owners of the club, cried with joy in their dressing room. Building on this success, Wrexham AFC, founded in 1864, will return to professional football next season, for the first time in 15 years.

“I’m still a little speechlessreacted Ryan Reynolds, who played the superhero Deadpool in the movies. People ask why Wrexham? What is happening, right now, is because of that. “It is the greatest honor of my life”added his partner.

A series broadcast on Disney+

series star It’s always sunny in Philly, Rob McElhenney is at the origin of this renaissance. It was he who had the idea to buy Wrexham AFC and who offered Reynolds to give the third oldest club in the world a second life. The partners validate their ambitious project in February 2021. Almost two years later, their commitment has already paid off: beyond the rise from a sporting point of view, the Welsh team has become a global success story.

View in full screen

In fact, both men have brought incredible visibility. First producing the series Welcome to Wrexham which follows his journey from rookie to head of a soccer club essential to his community. Broadcasting from August 2022 on FX and Hulu in the US, then on Disney+ in the UK, the series has been a hit, attracting new fan communities around the world. The number of subscribers on the club’s social networks has skyrocketed, which has led the international sports media to take an interest in this formation from the English fifth division.

Major sponsors have been attracted, such as the TikTok brand, present on the front of the Red Dragons jersey, while the team appears in the video game. fifa22. A true revolution for this hundred-year-old club whose hour of glory dates back to the 1984-1985 season with a victory against Porto in the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

An unexpected announcement for the city.

Both American stars have also used their notoriety to help the Wrexham community. The Turf Pub, an establishment in this working-class city, was robbed, for example, after a tweet from Ryan Reynolds. “Highly recommend a burger and beer at Turf with Wayne Jones”, the actor had written in the summer of 2022, thus offering unexpected publicity to the owner of the place. And he shouldn’t stop there.

With promotion to the English Fourth Division, Wrexham should continue to turn heads. Especially since Ryan Reynolds continues to trust that he has a crazy dream: to see his team evolve one day in the Premier League, considered the best championship in the world.