How Wrexham surged from obscurity to within sight of the Premier League

A dream of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as they finalized their out-of-the-blue takeover of Wrexham in 2021 was to lead the long-suffering club to the Premier League.

It seemed pie-in-the-sky thinking, but they are almost there.

Make that three straight promotions for the Welsh team with a cult following after a 3-0 win over Charlton on Saturday secured a place in the second-tier Championship.

Here's a look at the rise of Wrexham, once a down-on-its-luck, financially ravaged, fan-owned club that has been thrust into the limelight in remarkable fashion:

It seemed like a joke. Did two Hollywood celebrities really want to buy a soccer club from a long-overlooked Welsh city of 45,000 people that was languishing in the fifth tier of the English game?

Well, Reynolds — the star of the “Deadpool” movies — and McElhenney — an American actor, director and creator of TV show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia" — were deadly serious.

After convincing supporters of their motives on a Zoom call by outlining their vision to make the team a “global force," they went and bought Wrexham for $2.5 million.

A remarkable journey began.

The first task for Wrexham was getting out of the National League — the level below England's four professional divisions and where the club had been residing since 2008.

It didn't come easy.

For the first full season under the celebrity owners, Wrexham hired a new manager — Phil Parkinson, who had good experience in the lower leagues — and was soon spending much more than its rivals, on players such as prolific striker Paul Mullin. Wrexham finished in second place in the National League, missing out on the one automatic promotion spot, and lost in the playoff semifinals to Grimsby.

That wasn't the end of the late-season heartache. Wrexham also lost in the final of the FA Trophy — a competition for non-league teams — at Wembley Stadium, in front of Reynolds and McElhenney.

However, the following season and after a to-and-fro battle with Notts County, Wrexham got the job done and was promoted as fifth-tier champion with a record points total. The path to promotion was cleared by a 3-2 win over Notts County featuring a last-minute penalty save by Ben Foster, a former Manchester United goalkeeper who came out of retirement at age 40 on a short-term basis.

“I will never be the same again,” a breathless Reynolds said

“Welcome to Wrexham” — the Emmy award-winning TV series created to chronicle the A-list owners’ first foray into soccer ownership — was up to Season 2 and would get the Hollywood ending the first season failed to deliver.

How would Wrexham cope, then, back in the English Football League after a 15-year absence?

Pretty well, it turned out.

After a postseason trip to Las Vegas, the squad was enhanced by former Premier League players like Steven Fletcher, the attendance at the rocking Racecourse Ground was boosted to more than 12,000 — with the promise of a higher capacity before too long — and more sponsors were brought in. Big ones, too, like United Airlines, Betty Buzz and Aviation American Gin.

Parkinson delivered again as Wrexham took League Two by storm, achieving promotion at the first attempt. A 6-0 win over Forest Green ensured Wrexham was going up — and another pitch invasion by jubilant fans — as the team finished the season in second place behind Stockport County.

For the first time in its 159-year history, Wrexham earned promotion in two consecutive seasons.

Optimism and aspiration was suddenly rife, on and off the field, in a much-changed city that quickly became something of a tourist destination.

The team earned record turnover, and was valued at nine million pounds ($11.8 million) by a board member ahead of the start of a first season in the third-tier League One in nearly two decades. It'll be much more than that now.

Wrexham didn't even need Mullin, its top scorer for the previous three seasons, to launch an unlikely promotion challenge that never really wavered and captured growing attention on both sides of the Atlantic.

Boosted by the midseason signings of some strikers, including Sam Smith, Wrexham held off Wycombe to secure a second-place finish behind Birmingham and a return to the second tier for the first time since 1982.

Reynolds was there for the clinching victory over Charlton on Saturday, pulling pints ahead of the game in The Turf pub that's connected to the ground and then celebrating wildly after the final whistle.

Maybe the Premier League.

First of all, however, comes the not-so-easy task of overcoming a bunch of big-name clubs in the Championship, many of whom have recently been in the top flight — like Ipswich, Southampton, Leicester, West Bromwich Albion and Norwich. There's also Birmingham, which counts NFL great Tom Brady as a minority owner.

Wrexham executive Humphrey Ker has already acknowledged the club might have to quadruple its current wage bill — a reported 11 million pounds ($14.65 million) — to survive a grueling league. Ker seems sure Reynolds and McElhenney will dig into their pockets once again, no doubt fueled by the ongoing success of “Welcome to Wrexham.”

The renovation of Wrexham's once-imposing Kop stand should also be finished by the end of next season, in time for the Racecourse to potentially host qualifying matches for international tournaments for Wales’ men’s national team.

Expect the caliber of players turning out at the stadium to improve, too.

Jamie Vardy, anyone?

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds walks on the field before the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds, left, and Rob McElhenney, right, speak before the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham fans watch the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds, second left, react during the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds, top left, kisses his wife Blake Lively after Wrexham scored their first goal English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Wrexham fans watch the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham's Manager Phil Parkinson reacts during the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham co-owners Ryan Reynolds, center, and Rob McElhenney celebrate at the end of the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham players celebrate with fans as they win the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

Wrexham players celebrate as they win the English League One soccer match between Wrexham and Charlton Athletic at the Racecourse ground in Wrexham, Wales, Saturday, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Jon Super)

LONDON (AP) — Tennis great Serena Williams is not ruling out a return to singles competition but suggested Sunday it's not imminent ahead of her doubles comeback in the sport she dominated for two decades.

First up for the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion is the doubles tournament at Queen’s Club, marking her first competitive tennis since the 2022 US Open.

“I can’t say no right now, I feel like I probably need to train a little bit more if I want to play singles, and we will see if I get there, and if not… that’s not my journey right now,” Williams said in an eagerly anticipated press conference on Sunday.

Williams will play alongside 19-year-old Canadian Victoria Mboko, who is 25 years her junior. Their first match is scheduled for Tuesday against third seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Erin Routliffe.

The 44-year-old Williams has not competed since bidding farewell at the 2022 U.S. Open. At the time, she said she didn’t want to use the word “retiring” and instead declared that she was “evolving” away from tennis.

Williams, who shares her two daughters with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, revealed that as recently as December she believed she “definitely was not” returning to tennis, but, after some conversations, thought: “Well, why not? For lack of a better explanation.

“It’s summer, the kids aren’t in school, so it’s a perfect time to get out there, have fun, and see what happens.”

Williams won seven Wimbledon singles titles and six at the U.S. Open before stepping away from the game. She won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, including six at Wimbledon and two at the U.S. Open — all with her older sister Venus Williams.

She says she is liberating herself of any expectations ahead of her comeback.

“I don’t need to win,” Williams said. “I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives, so it’s not that important to me, and it’s important that I keep reminding myself of that, because I don’t have anything to prove.

“I don’t have anything to lose, and everything here is just to gain … This whole journey is like, I’m putting no pressure on myself.”

In Mboko, Williams saw something, she said, “that reminded me a lot of myself” in her attitude, resilience and drive. After making the “pretty 11th-hour commitment” to Queen’s, she reached out to the Canadian via text message.

Mboko said: “She’s hitting great. She has such clean ball striking, she could probably take years off, and when she steps on the court she could probably find that rhythm again and find her timing. So I think that’s really a God-given gift that she has.

“I personally think she’s ready to go. I’m hitting with her, she’s hitting pretty big and she’s really fit, so we’ll see.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Serena Williams during a press conference at The Queen's Club, London, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Serena Williams of the US, left, speaks with Canada's Victoria Mboko at The Queen's Club, in London, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Serena Williams of the United States practices at Queen's Club, in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

Serena Williams during a press conference at The Queen's Club, London, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Serena Williams of the US practices at The Queen's Club, in London, Sunday June 7, 2026. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)