"The average American didn't even know what Wales was, never mind Wrexham." Paul Jones has been following the club for six decades, and even he can barely believe what's happened.
Wrexham's global reach is no longer a quirky footnote to the Ryan Reynolds story. It's a commercial engine. The club posted a record £33.3m turnover in their latest accounts — and the majority of that revenue, 57.7%, came from outside Europe. Around half of retail income since the start of 2024-25 has originated outside the UK. A Welsh third-tier club, not long ago, was shifting merch across the planet.
The fans who actually showed up
The Norwegian Reds are the biggest official supporters' group anywhere, with 440 members. Steinar Pedersen founded it after a tip from a friend whose son was a sports scientist at the club — four years ago, when Wrexham were still in non-league. He watched them lose a play-off semi-final in extra time and decided that was enough. He was in.
"It's the underdog story," Pedersen says. "You want the small teams to succeed."
That's the honest answer. Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were the spark, the Welcome to Wrexham documentary series fanned the flames, but neither explains why people are still showing up years later. The fans who've stuck around point to something less glamorous: the people of Wrexham themselves. Pedersen describes visiting north Wales as "almost like meeting another Norwegian." Matthias Matthiasson, who founded the Wrexham Icelandic Supporters Club, puts it simply — "the people make the club."
In Dubai, a group of Welsh expats who used to gather in a bar just to wait for non-league results to come through have grown into the Dubai Reds, now watching every match at an Irish pub in the Middle East. Dylan Owen has been following Wrexham since the early 1980s at the Racecourse Ground. He carried it with him when he moved to Dubai in the mid-90s. That's not a documentary converting a casual fan. That's decades of identity.
What the numbers actually mean
Tourism in Wrexham generated £191m for the local economy in 2024 — up 6.3% year-on-year, with over two million visitors. Every single Wrexham match last season was broadcast in the United States on CBS and Paramount+, and that continues this Championship campaign. All 44 games, including the final two against Coventry and Middlesbrough.
The Wrexham Supporters Federation now has 25 official groups, including the Bavarian Red Dragons in Germany and a Ukrainian Dragons chapter. Outside the federation, there are groups in Iceland, Thailand, Australia, and beyond.
For anyone pricing up Wrexham's longer-term trajectory — whether as a betting proposition this season or a club to watch in the Championship — that commercial foundation matters. A club generating the majority of its revenue internationally, with a broadcast deal that reaches US audiences for every fixture, isn't operating like a typical second-tier side. The playing budget implications are real.
Pedersen is already planning a Wembley trip if Phil Parkinson's side get into the play-offs. Whether or not they do, Jones is clear on where this is heading: "I think it's going to carry on beyond my years."
Given that Wrexham's non-UK revenue now outweighs everything generated at home, that's not optimism. That's the financial statement.
