Wrexham AFC: How Smart Media and Branding Revived a Historic Club

Wrexham AFC is one of the oldest and most historic football clubs in England. The Welsh club was founded in 1864, and for the majority of its existence, the club competed in the lower division of English football. The 2024-2025 season was the third consecutive season that the club achieved a promotion, and now, the next season, the team will be playing in the Championship. This is remarkable because the club went from the semi-professional fifth division to the second division in the span of 3 seasons. This is a record for the most time a club was able to get promoted in a row. The big change came in 2020, when Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney decided to buy the club. This was really surprising to the football fans and it polarised the fans of the club. Some fans were happy that the team would enjoy a new breath of air, but others raised concerns over the neo-commercialisation of the club, the owner not being the traditional community owners they had in the past, and also they were skeptical on what these Hollywood owners knew about football and how to run the club. However, this unusual investment quickly started to have results and it provided a good example of how media, marketing, and smart business planning can transform a club and the town around it.

Global Spotlight

Before the takeover, the club was in a really bad situation, losing money every season and having no commercial appeal. However, things changed really fast, with the new owners launching the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series. The series was streamed on Disney+ and FX, with the show reaching millions of viewers and being an immediate success. Through the series, the team was able to attract attention and sponsorships. This also resulted in rise in merchandise sales and the creation of a lot of new fans.

• The club’s social media following grew by over 500% in one year.

• Club kits sold out multiple times due to high demand.

• In 2023–24, Wrexham sold over 6,800 season tickets.

On the Pitch & Financial Success

Wrexham was able to return to the English Football League in 2023. The team was able to attract some really good players and earned back-to-back promotions to the Championship. Through these years of success, the club grew its international following to astonishing numbers for a club their level. They were able to have high match-day revenues (also attracting a lot of very famous people to the stadium), better TV rights, and new sponsors (TikTok deal being one of the most prominent).

This success, of course, had huge economic impact to the team and the city. In 2022, tourism spending in Wrexham hit £151 million, which is a 51% increase year-on-year. Businesses like hotels, restaurants, and shops saw a large increase in business during home matches.

Business Model

A lot of lessons can be learned from Wrexham’s rise. Even though the model is difficult to replicate when you are not affiliated with “Hollywood stars,” there are valuable lessons on how to approach branding and media in the new era of football. Some of the key strategies followed:

• Storytelling & Global Reach: The Welcome to Wrexham documentary created an emotional connection with fans around the world, it also helped the club to turn viewers into supporters and also engage people that had no previous relationship with the sport.

• Sponsorships: The club secured sponsorships with major brands that increased its visibility. Wrexham secured major deals, such as the 2023/24 shirt sponsorship with United Airlines and a previous partnership with TikTok.

• Local & Global: While expanding internationally, the club also invested in the local fanbase by upgrading the Racecourse Ground and funding community programmes. Wrexham owners built trust within the community by winning in the field but also through launching educational programmes, the Wrexham Miners Project, Safer Streets Initiatives and more.

• Strong Digital Strategy: Wrexham used TikTok and other platforms to connect with younger fans and build a digital identity. The content shared on these platforms also helped the club to resonate with fans deeper than just the matchdays and also created a fan base that was going beyond just football enthusiasts.

Conclusion

The rise of Wrexham is much more than just a successful football story. What is going on in the club for the past years can be seen as a business case that showcases how smart media use and branding can be a game changer for a football club. The club created a new model for success that is very different from the traditional ways that sport organisations were operating in Europe. It shows that with the correct strategy and execution, small clubs can compete with the biggest teams in Europe. It is not an accident that Wrexham has more followers on Instagram than 35% of the Premier League clubs, and that the club participated in pre-season matches in the U.S. against teams like Chelsea and Manchester United. Wrexham’s success is proof that with the right vision and planning, even the smallest clubs can achieve global impact and rewrite their own rules of football business.