How Ryan Reynolds gave hope to a small-town Welsh soccer club

On a recent blustery game day in Wrexham, North Wales, 8,700 soccer fans were bundled up and drinking steaming hot Bovril beef broth while snacking on meat pies as they cheered on the team in red. 

It was a typical Welsh scene, except for the Canadian and U.S. flags on display in the corner of the stadium, and the faces of two Hollywood stars adorning a banner in the stands.

A year after Canada's Ryan Reynolds and American actor and producer Rob McElhenney invested more than $3.4 million to buy Wrexham Association Football Club, the team's fans are riding a wave of newfound international attention. And they have huge hopes for the future. 

"Since they've taken over, they've done nothing but good," Noel Harding, a fan for 59 years, said before a recent match. 

"You'd never think someone from 6,000 miles away would come and do this," another longtime supporter, Steve Nicholas, said, regarding the Vancouver-born Reynolds.

Since the takeover was finalized on Feb. 9, 2021, the club has racked up new sponsorships and moved up the league rankings. The Welsh government recently dropped most COVID-19 restrictions, too, allowing Wrexham to fill the stands at home again.

Despite a long history and an adoring fan base in the working-class town the size of Fort McMurray, Alta., the club is still far from the big leagues. 

Competing in the National League — the fifth division of domestic soccer and the lowest countrywide league featuring teams from across England, plus Wales — the team known as the Red Dragons is by no means a global household name like English squads Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea.

But fans and the club's new owners hope to change that.

When the Hollywood duo made their pitch to the club's