Wrexham AFC

A Welsh club with nineteenth-century roots

Cricketers in Wrexham wanted a sport for the winter. Wrexham AFC grew out of that interest in 1864, with its first match at the Racecourse on 22 October. These are the beginnings described in Sydney FC’s official historical profile, prepared as the club got ready to face Wrexham in 2025.

The television series, overseas tours and celebrity ownership came much later in an already long club history. Wrexham’s entry in our oldest football clubs guide follows its recorded nineteenth-century beginnings. That chronology is a selection of early clubs. It does not give Wrexham an uncontested worldwide rank in a complete list of every surviving institution.

Arsenal arrived as champions in 1992

At the Racecourse on 4 January 1992, Wrexham had the reigning English champions to face. Arsenal were coming up against an old Fourth Division side in the FA Cup third round. It looked a mismatch, and the home team’s task grew harder when Alan Smith put Arsenal ahead before half-time.

Then came Mickey Thomas’s late free-kick, followed by Steve Watkin’s winner. Wrexham had turned the match around to win 2-1. The FA’s retrospective credits each man with his part: Thomas brought the teams level, and Watkin finished the comeback. Remembering only the celebrated free-kick leaves out the goal which actually won the tie.

The FA’s history of Welsh clubs in the Cup also records quarter-final appearances for Wrexham in 1974, 1978 and 1997. There was a longer competition record around that famous afternoon. The Arsenal match is the episode most widely remembered, though it came from a club whose Cup story had other substantial runs in it.

The modern audience meets an existing club

Many newer viewers first encountered Wrexham through the 2021 takeover and the documentary that followed. The return to the Football League in 2023 gave that audience another landmark to follow. The club’s history has room for that revival and for the community and football record which preceded it.

The Racecourse was there for the first match in the historical account and for the win over Arsenal. Different generations knew different teams on that same ground. For another early club with a story that reaches beyond its own city, there is Notts County, whose connection with Juventus takes its history abroad.