Ryan Reynolds, Wrexham clinch record promotion to Championship

Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham create history with promotion to English second division, just one league below the Premier League.

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has said it felt like an “impossible dream” when fellow Hollywood A-lister Rob McElhenney first floated the idea of buying football club Wrexham, along with a pitch for a documentary. The ultimate goal was to reach the Premier League.

Four years after they bought the North Wales outfit, Wrexham are one league away from achieving their lofty goal after a 3-0 win over Charlton Athletic on Saturday that saw them promoted for a record third consecutive time.

“It just seemed like an impossible dream, and we do what we’re lucky to do … be storytellers,” Reynolds, best known for his role as superhero character Deadpool, told Sky Sports after the game. “And when you’re a storyteller, you look as much as you can at the sort of macro view of this history.

“We were standing there doing a press conference four years ago, and said our goal is to make it to the Premier League. And there was understandably a lot of titters and laughter and giggles, but it starts to feel like a real, tangible thing that could actually come to fruition in this moment.”

The Red Dragons will play in the Championship (second division) next season, something unthinkable four years ago when Wrexham were a non-league team going nowhere.

Asked about being just one league below England’s vaunted top-flight, McElhenney laughed and said: “Well, that’s for tomorrow to think about. Today is just enjoying the moment. We could probably wait until 12:01.”

Reynolds replied: “We have to wait ’til tomorrow? I’ll erase the whiteboard I put up at halftime.”

Wrexham’s popularity has skyrocketed on both sides of the Atlantic due to the North American owners and the “Welcome to Wrexham” documentary.

While many sports teams have celebrity absentee owners, Reynolds and McElhenney are anything but absent.

Reynolds, whose wife and fellow actor, Blake Lively, was also at Saturday’s game, told reporters earlier this week in New York that the stress was “like an 8-inch ulcer in my stomach”.

Actors and Wrexham owners Rob McElhenney, left, and Ryan Reynolds, front, celebrate after Wrexham’s Sam Smith scored their third goal against Charlton Athletic at SToK Racecourse, Wrexham, UK, on April 26, 2025 [Craig Brough/Action Images via Reuters]

McElhenney had delivered a pre-game speech to the players before their key 2-1 victory over Blackpool on April 21, and then spent this past week in Wales with them.

The Racecourse Ground crowd showed their appreciation in the dying minutes of Saturday’s thriller, turning to applaud the two, who were both down on the celebratory pitch soon after the final whistle, wrapping players in giant hugs.

“Ryan and I have the easiest job in the world, which is to show up and watch this incredible football team and this incredible story continue to unfold,” said McElhenney, an American best known for his role in the sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

“And if you want to see what it means to them, you go into that dressing room after a loss and there’s nothing that can console them,” Reynolds added. “That’s where you see the grit and the mettle that these players have. It means everything to them.”

The duo ended their interview with a microphone drop. Then Reynolds comedically picked the microphones off the pitch, blew off the grass, and handed them back.

Wrexham’s James McClean and teammates celebrate with the trophy after being promoted to the Championship on April 26, 2025 [Craig Brough/Action Images via Reuters]