Did you know that Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds are co-owners of a 5th Division British soccer team?

Well now you do.

The Always Sunny star bought Wrexham Association Football Club in November of 2020 with Reynolds, and they promised not to rename it, rebrand it, or move it. The team was founded back in 1864 and plays in a 11,000 capacity stadium in a Welsh town that is smaller than Reading, PA.

McElhenney and Reynolds being involved brings this global branding opportunity to a tiny club, and today Rob went on Preston and Steve’s show with an announcement:

Co-owners of Wrexham AFC, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, will be bringing their team stateside for an international friendly against with the Philadelphia Union on Thursday, July 29, 2021.

….

The game will take place at the home of the Philadelphia Union, Subaru Park located in Chester, PA. The event will be happening in partnership with CORA Services and Philabundance, two Philadelphia based organizations close to McElhenney’s heart. Tickets will be free, but all those in attendance are asked to bring food donations for Philabundance.

Wrexham had a decent season, finishing 8th in their division. They had 19 wins, 11 draws, and 12 losses.

But make no mistake, if Wrexham played the Union 100 times, they would lose 99 of them. It’s a tiny club in Wales that had some good moments years ago but mostly just floats around in the 5th division of the British pyramid these days. Maybe the American actor duo puts some money into the product and they can fight their way up the ladder to the fourth division.

The Union will probably throw a bunch of homegrown kids out on the field for this game, maybe some starters to give the fans something to watch or keep them fresh. The U have a regular season game a few days later, so this won’t be a high priority thing.

Pretty cool and random game though. Good job by everybody who got this thing organized.

(Useless trivia: Philadelphia’s Aurelien Collin played for Wrexham in 2009)