Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds. Ben Hider/FX
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are at a crossroads when it comes to paying the Wrexham AFC Women’s team.
“We asked last year when they were in the amateur status, could we pay them. The answer was no, by rule. In this league, you have limits on what you’re allowed to pay them,” McElhenney, 47, said during the Thursday, May 9, episode of Welcome to Wrexham. “Just another one of the really fun U.K. regulations in football that hold you back from doing some of the things you want to do.”
The Wrexham women’s team won a Tier 1 license in March 2023, hoping that they would become a semiprofessional football team. By June of that same year, Wrexham announced that 10 women had signed semiprofessional contracts as they joined the Adran Premier League — the top women’s football league in Wales.
“This makes Wrexham the first Club in North Wales to have a semiprofessional women’s football setup,” the team shared in a statement at the time, noting that they were “delighted” to announce the first 10 semiprofessional players, including Rosie Hughes, Lili Jones, Rebecca Pritchard, Del Morgan, Phoebe Davies, Amber Lightfoot, Erin Lovett, Katie Sharp, TJ Dickens and Mari Gibbard.
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“This is an historic moment, not just for the Football Club but for women’s football in North Wales and shows just what young girls in our region can aspire to,” Gemma Owen, head of women’s football operations, said at the time. “All 10 players signed up so far have proved themselves on and off the pitch, not just as fine footballers but as great role models too and are fitting pioneers.”
During Thursday’s episode, Wrexham’s executive director, Humphrey Ker, revealed that the women’s team has moved to a different stadium, “which is a significantly more sophisticated setup.”
As a semiprofessional team, the women also secured more money and resources. Ker also explained that if the team won the Adran Premier during the 2023-2024 season, they would go into the Women’s Champions League.
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“Champions League is a European competition where clubs who win their respective leagues in their domestic countries then go compete with clubs in other countries,” Owen said during her confessional.
Ker went on to say that the “challenge” for the women going forward is going from dominating their division into one with “a couple of other big fish.”
New episodes of Welcome to Wrexham premiere on FX Thursdays.
