Stadium for the North: The reasons why international sporting events can't happen at the Racecourse now

The Stadium for the North campaign is now well underway with nearly 6,000 signatures on the register of support at the time of writing. The campaign aims to support Wrexham County Borough Council's bid for "levelling up" funding as part of the council's Wrexham Gateway plan.

The overall plans for the redevelopment of the stadium will include a mixture of public and private funding to make it happen. However, the redevelopment will need UK Government "levelling up" funding to kick-start the scheme.

The Racecourse Ground has a storied history, being the oldest international football stadium in the world still in use. If the bid is successful then it would see the return of competitive international sport to North Wales for the first time in a generation.

The reason why competitive international sport cannot be played at the Racecourse is because the stadium currently does not meet international competition standards. This means that, at present, competitive international sport i.e. Wales football matches cannot be played in North Wales.

Should the levelling up fund bid be successful then the proposed development of the Kop would mean an increased stadium capacity as well as improvement of media, broadcast and floodlight facilities. This would bring the facilities up to the required international standards.

A successful bid for funding would also see a 5,500 capacity stand built at the historic Kop end of the ground. This would bring the total capacity of the Racecourse Ground up to around 16,000 - big enough to host some competitive internationals.

The campaign, which is backed by North Wales Live, urges sports fans from North Wales and beyond to support the bid by signing the Stadium for the North online register of