Wrexham Association Football Club is a Welsh professional association football club based in Wrexham, Clwyd. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. [1]
Wrexham first played league football in the 1890–91 season, as co-founding members of the second incarnation of the Combination. [2] The club played in the Welsh Senior League between 1894 and 1896, winning the title during both seasons, [3] [4] before returning to the Combination and winning the league four times in nine years. [2] Wrexham played in the Birmingham & District League either side of the First World War, before being elected to the Football League in the 1921–22 season as co-founding members of the new Third Division North. [2] The club remained in the Football League for over 80 years, winning a single Third Division title in 1977–78, before facing relegation to the Conference (later the National League) in 2007–08. [2] After 15 years in non-league football, Wrexham achieved three consecutive promotions during the 2022–23, 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons, and will play in the Championship in 2025–26. [2]
Wrexham's men's first team have competed in a number of regionally and nationally contested leagues. Their record against each club faced in these competitions is listed below. The club's first league match was against Gorton Villa, their first Football League match was against Hartlepools United, and they met their 208th and most recent different league opponent, Dorking Wanderers, for the first time in the 2022–23 season. The team that Wrexham have met most often in league competition is Tranmere Rovers, who they first played in the 1897–98 Combination season; the 51 victories from 124 meetings is the joint-highest in the club's history, tied with Rochdale who they have beaten 51 times in 112 meetings. The club has drawn the most times in the league with Barrow — 35 times in 91 meetings — and lost the most times in the league against Chesterfield and Stockport County — 53 times in 116 and 115 meetings, respectively.