"This one is personal," said Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney — and apparently they mean it. Canada's largest bank, RBC, has signed on as Wrexham AFC's official banking partner, with Reynolds hinting that one of them grew up with a Royal Bank of Canada account. The joke writes itself.
The branding lands immediately. RBC's shield appears on the back of players' shirts — men's and women's, home, away and third kits — starting with Monday's Championship opener against Cardiff City. A derby atmosphere, a new division, a new sponsor. Wrexham are not easing into this.
From the fifth tier to a bank that sponsors the Canadiens
To understand what this partnership represents, you need the full arc. When Reynolds and McElhenney completed their takeover in 2021, Wrexham were in the National League — the fifth tier of English football. Three consecutive promotions later, they're in the Championship, England's second division, one step from the Premier League. RBC doesn't back struggling clubs. They sponsor the Montreal Canadiens, the Vancouver Canucks, the LA Galaxy. Wrexham is now in that company.
RBC chief executive Dave McKay called it "one of the most remarkable stories in sport." That's corporate-speak, sure, but it's not wrong. Three promotions in three seasons at a club founded in 1864 — Wales' oldest professional side and the third oldest in the world — is genuinely difficult to pull off. Most clubs with Hollywood owners get a documentary and some shirt sales. Wrexham got promoted. Repeatedly.
What this means heading into the Championship
The Championship is a grind. Sixty-odd games, no easy weeks, a division that has swallowed more ambitious projects than anyone cares to count. Wrexham's promotion odds will be long, and rightly so — the step up from League One to the Championship is steep, and the financial muscle of clubs already established at this level is real.
But the RBC deal signals that the club's commercial infrastructure is scaling up alongside the football. Staying in the Championship long enough to mount a genuine promotion push requires revenue. Shirt sponsors, banking partners, global media attention — Wrexham are building the off-pitch machine that sustained campaigns demand.
Cardiff City on Monday. RBC on the shirt. The Premier League as the destination. Wales' oldest club has never had a story quite like this one.
