Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney: Wrexham owners have ‘legacy’ role in 2035 Women’s World Cup plan

The FAW and Wrexham held talks over the Women’s World Cup last week and Wales will host the 2026 European Under-19 Championship next summer.

All games will be played in the north at Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Deeside, Denbigh, Deeside and Wrexham, with the Stok Cae Ras hosting the final.

“It’s our 150th anniversary next year, we were founded in Wrexham, and the story is very powerful for us,” added Mooney, who said the FAW will launch a 10-year strategy for Welsh football in 2026.

“The impact of Ryan and Rob has been manna from heaven for us, the timing of it.

“We’ve been very fortunate over the last few years to get to a men’s World Cup, first women’s Euros, and have our young teams starting to qualify for major championships.”

“That has coincided with Ryan and Rob coming in.”

Under Reynolds and McElhenney Wrexham have risen from the National League to the Championship with three successive promotions, and manager Phil Parkinson has been able to spend about £20m on player recruitment this summer, including Wales internationals Nathan Broadhead, Kieffer Moore and Danny Ward.

“Wrexham has already started collecting a lot of our national team players, and will produce lots of players for us in the future with their investment in youth development and academy,” noted Mooney.

“There is a symbiotic relationship there where we can create a lot of value for each other.

“People all over the world are talking about Wrexham and that inspires partners like Fifa, commercial bodies and governments to get involved.”

The UK’s formal bid for the 2035 Women’s World Cup will be submitted in November and likely to be approved by Fifa next year, with all four home nations automatically qualifying for the tournament.