The return of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ is welcome, indeed
The return of ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ is welcome, indeed
The documentary series about a Welsh soccer team purchased by a couple of Hollywood stars was my favorite stream of the week.
I’m a huge fan of American sports. My Sundays are completely devoted to American football, whether or not my beloved Denver Broncos have a competitive squad in any given year. But I haven’t paid much attention to soccer in my years of sports fandom; I just never really understood what makes the game so attractive.
So when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney (who now prefers to go by Rob Mac) purchased an ownership stake in a soccer team in a small town in Wales in 2021, it didn’t really get on my radar. But with nothing else to watch one fateful day, I decided to flip on the first episode of “Welcome to Wrexham,” the documentary series following the team bought by the two stars. I was immediately hooked, and the release of the show’s fifth season on Thursday was my favorite stream of the week.
“Welcome to Wrexham” introduces viewers to Wrexham A.F.C., a Welsh soccer team that has long served as the beating heart of the small coal town it’s based in. Once a powerhouse in English soccer, Wrexham had fallen on hard times by the time McElhenney and Reynolds came on board. If you’re not familiar with the English soccer pyramid, don’t worry, the show will explain it to you in detail. Safe to say, however, that Wrexham was fairly buried in the standings.
In the last five years, however, the club has undergone a total transformation. It has earned promotions to higher-tiered soccer leagues three seasons in a row, something that had never happened in the history of the English Football League previously. The show offers a fantastic level of access to team officials, coaches, and players, conveying the sense of accomplishment that each has felt as they’ve earned their way up the EFL ladder.
But “Welcome to Wrexham” isn’t just about the team’s play on the pitch; it frequently shifts focus to the citizens of Wrexham, a town that has been revitalized thanks to the revival of its soccer team. Many of the stories shared by Wrexham locals are deeply personal; Season 5 begins with a Wrexham family who lost their young son in a freak accident, only to see his donated organs grant another fan a new chance at life.
The show isn’t afraid to get personal with its players, too. “Welcome to Wrexham” shows off the tough part of sports that fans don’t usually get to see up close, including the departure of players for other teams. This only gets harder as the episodes go by; the longer a player stays with Wrexham, the more difficult it is as an audience member to watch them depart.
It’s easy to be cynical about “Welcome to Wrexham.” Would the show even exist were it not for the presence of Hollywood stars in the owner’s box? Is Wrexham really more deserving of the attention it’s gotten than any number of unknown English towns that are struggling just as hard, with soccer teams that have just as prestigious a history?
But as you watch the series, you can’t help but put away that cynicism. It’s too difficult to maintain when you see the diversity of the Wrexham fanbase, and you begin to fall in love with the town’s residents and their passion for their team. You’ll find yourself cheering when the team wins an improbable victory, and hiding your head in your hands when they suffer defeat.
If you’re a sports fan who has thus far written off “Welcome to Wrexham” as a vanity project, I strongly encourage you to reconsider that opinion. Fans can watch new episodes of “Welcome to Wrexham” Season 5 on FX and Hulu on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
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