Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds. Courtesy of Ryan Reynolds/Instagram
Ryan Reynolds shed tears of joy as soccer team Wrexham AFC secured another victory, earning themselves a promotion to League One.
“A few years ago, if you had told me I would be crying tears of joy over a football match taking place in North Wales, you would be @robmcelhenney,” Reynolds wrote via Instagram on Saturday, April 13, after Wrexham defeated the Forest Green Rovers 6-0. “Congrats to @wrexham_afc and to my co-chairman in crime. Double up the town! This is the ride of our lives. 🏴.”
Reynolds and Rob McElhenny became the co-owners of Wrexham AFC after they purchased the club for $2.5 million in 2021, intending to turn the franchise back into a successful team after several relegations. They were in the fifth tier of English football teams and were promoted to League Two last year. The latest promotion puts them in the third tier.
In another post shared via Instagram Story, Reynolds wrote, “This is Field of Dreams stuff,” a reference to the iconic 1989 baseball movie starring Kevin Costner. McElhenny wrote via X (formerly Twitter), “No words.”
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In April 2023, Wrexham was promoted for the first time in 15 years after defeating Boreham Wood. “Rob and I kinda blacked out during this moment, but somehow we’ll never forget it,” Reynolds captioned an Instagram post at the time, which showed fans storming the field following the winning goal.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Courtesy of Ryan Reynolds/Instagram
“I don’t remember this moment at all,” the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star captioned the same clip via Instagram. “But you can see something leave both of our bodies at the same time. And then we’re filled back up with an indescribable joy. ❤️.”
“It is for sure two full years bubbling to the top,” Reynolds said regarding the team’s possible promotion, just before the April 2023 match began. “I would say that’s been happening constantly though. Just when I think it can’t bubble anymore — like the Nott’s [County] game — here I am, having genuinely a full four sleepless nights leading up to Boreham Wood. It’s all I think about.”
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One year later, Wrexham’s win against Forest Green and subsequent promotion to League One — two tiers away from the Premier League — marks the football club’s first back-to-back promotion in 159 years.
Wrexham’s journey from a little-known football club to a League One team is chronicled in the FX docuseries, Welcome to Wrexham. The latest promotion is likely to appear in the third season of the Emmy-winning hit.
The show has brought plenty of attention to Wales and driven local tourism. In April last year, Reynolds and McElhenney were awarded the Freedom of the Borough Award from the Wrexham council.
“One of the great things about football is that it’s a great unifier. I’ve been able to forge these connections between people who live all the way across the world,” McElhenny said in his acceptance speech. “I’m truly honored and blessed to have been accepted into this community.”
