Wrexham Women take Hollywood-backed rise into Europe

Wrexham Women’s first step into the UEFA Women’s Champions League arrives this week at the Racecourse Ground, the 13,000-capacity home better known in Welsh as STōK Cae Ras.

ESPN reports that the Welsh champions face Armenia’s FC Pyunik on Wednesday in the first qualifying round, with a possible July 25 final against Northern Ireland’s Glentoran or Latvia’s Riga FC for a place in the next phase.

The Red Dragons earned the shot by winning the Adran Premier and the Adran Trophy for the first time in club history. For a side formed in 1993 and promoted to Wales’ top tier only two years ago, it is a sharp climb with a very Wrexham mix of ambition, upheaval and documentary-era spotlight.

A messy rebuild, then silverware

Wrexham’s women became the first Welsh women’s club to go semi-professional after promotion in 2023-24, according to ESPN. They finished third in their first season in the top flight, but repeated cup final defeats to Cardiff City and a fourth-place league finish the following campaign left another reset on the table.

Manager Steve Dale stepped down after four seasons and former Leicester manager Jenny Sugarman took charge in July 2025. Sugarman told ESPN the situation she inherited was “chaos,” with only one player under contract and around 20 players or trialists waiting on decisions about their futures.

She said a planned preseason trip to Florida was scrapped, preparations were running late and the club did not have a kit and facilities manager. Sugarman also described arriving at a training ground with no power, saying she once had to conduct a trialist’s medical on a bed outside in the rain because the building was dark.

The club kept moving. In August 2025, Wrexham bought The Rock, their 3,000-capacity women’s stadium, which ESPN described as making them the first club, and still one of only a few worldwide, to own their women’s stadium outright. Work later began on redeveloping the site into a high-performance facility for the women’s programme.

Technical director Mark Swales told ESPN that team meetings sometimes happened amid stud walls, dust and drilling, but said players maintained momentum through the disruption.

Wales’ history is against them

Wrexham are among the lowest-ranked teams in the Champions League first qualifying round, ESPN reports. No club from the Welsh top division has gone beyond the first qualifying round, and Cardiff Met were the last Welsh side to win a qualifier, in 2019.

If Wrexham make it through this week’s mini-tournament, Denmark’s HB Køge are waiting on Aug. 5. Another possible final, against either Lithuania’s Gintra or Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian on Aug. 8, would stand between Wrexham and the two-legged third qualifying round for a place in the league phase.

Sugarman told ESPN she wants her team to embrace the stage, while acknowledging the limited information available on Pyunik. She said Wrexham staff have had to study footage from more than a year ago, although Pyunik have retained much of the same squad and coaching staff. ESPN reports Pyunik won all 18 of their domestic league matches last season.

The Hollywood-backed rise remains a work in progress. Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac have helped turn Wrexham into a global name since their 2020 takeover, but ESPN reports the women’s team is still semi-professional, with no confirmed timetable for going fully professional.

Sugarman told ESPN the immediate target is to set the standard in Wales, from the football on the pitch to the medical and performance support around the players. Europe is the next test, and Wrexham have arrived with a trophy cabinet finally open for business.

This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.