Wrexham to play US women in seven-a-side tournament

The Red Dragons, owned by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, achieved promotion to the EFL earlier this season

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham secured a place in the English Football League (PA) (PA)

Wrexham will play against a women’s side of former United States internationals in a seven-a-side tournament this summer.

The Welsh side, who were taken over by Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2020, have just secured promotion to the English Football League.

There have been reports that the owners themselves will feature for Wrexham in the tournament, which takes place from May 31 to June 4.

Although only player-coach David Jones and former players Paul Rutherford and Mark Carrington have so far been included in the squad.

The Soccer Tournament, as the competition is being hailed, will feature 32-teams with a winner-takes-all $1 million prize and take place in North Carolina.

Also in Wrexham’s group are Como from Italy’s Serie B, and a team called Say Word which will pay homage to North Carolina and Historically Black Colleges Universities, and complete Group D.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney celebrated Wrexham’s success (Action Images via Reuters) (Action Images via Reuters)

If they can qualify from their group, Wrexham could come up against teams boasting the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Carlton Cole, Noah Beck and Mia Hamm.

The women’s team of former national side players will be led by Heather O’Reilly, while former United States international and Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey will manage “Team Dempsey”.

TBT Enterprises founded The Basketball Tournament a decade ago, which grey from a 32-team five-on-five tournament, but has grown to a 64-team $1 million event and will be hoping to replicate that success with football.

Contributions from AP

This article was amended on the day of publication. An earlier version stated that Ryan Reynolds was included in the Wrexham squad, but that was an unconfirmed report.