Wrexham Promoted To Championship League As Team Nears Coveted Premier Rank; Co-Owner Ryan Reynolds Celebrates With Blake Lively

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Natalie Oganesyan

Sun, Apr 27, 2025 ·

3 min read

UPDATED with Blake Lively’s Instagram post: With a hometown victory against Charlton Athletic FC at Racecourse Ground, the Wales-hailing Wrexham AFC has cemented its second-tier status — a hopeful stop leading to the coveted Premier League.

Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who star in and executive produce FX’s docuseries on the football club’s underdog journey, were in attendance at the April 26 game, seen celebrating alongside fellow actor and Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively. The 3-0 triumph by the once-fifth-rank Red Dragons is now the team’s third such promotion in as many seasons, meaning the club is now in the Sky Bet Championship League. The feat marks the first such entry by Wrexham AFC since the 1981-82 season.

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In a video shared by the Welsh soccer team’s X account , the Welcome to Wrexham actors were captured having stormed the pitch alongside fans (despite police warning ahead of kickoff), dumping gallons of Gatorade in celebration. Per the Associated Press , the raucous audience responded in tandem, lighting flares and proudly waving flags.

“It just seemed like an impossible dream,” Reynolds told the AP afterward. “We said five years ago our goal was to make it to the Premier League. There were understandably a lot of laughs, but it feels like a thing that could make it to fruition right now.”

On Sunday, Lively took to her Instagram Story to mark the momentous occasion, writing, “Back to Back to Back. History was made. Congratulations to @wrexham_afc. I will never forget the the [sic] love and elation in that town today. Thank you for sharing it with us always,” alongside a red heart and prayer hands emoji.

Continuing, she added alongside a photo of McElhenney and Reynolds embracing, “And to these two men, @robmcelhenney & @vancityreynolds … the love and respect that pours out of you each and together exponentially grows and creates more joy, more possibilities, more magic, more history. This picture feels to me like a painting of all you do for so many while being so present and appreciate of every moment…♥️” (Read her full dedication on social media below.)

Friends, business partners and fellow actors Reynolds and McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC for $2.5 million back in 2020, with the (then-unlikely) aim of taking the oldest Welsh soccer team (and third-oldest overall) from the National League to the top rank of English soccer. Though the Ted Lasso jokes continue to be apropos, the FX docuseries tracks the real-life dreams and worries of Wrexham, a working class city in North Wales, U.K., as the two Hollywood stars guide the future of its historic club.

Season 4 of Welcome to Wrexham will premiere May 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with two episodes and repeats available via Hulu the next day.

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