01/24/26 12:21:00
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01/24 12:19 CST To the Premier League? Wrexham climbs into Championship playoff
spot after dramatic win
To the Premier League? Wrexham climbs into Championship playoff spot after
dramatic win
By STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer
Wrexham's bid for a fourth straight promotion and a place in the Premier League
is gaining steam.
A dramatic 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers --- courtesy of two stoppage-time
goals --- lifted Wrexham, the Welsh club co-owned by Hollywood celebrities Ryan
Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, into sixth place in the second-tier Championship
on Saturday.
The top-two finishers secure automatic promotion and the teams who finish third
to sixth will qualify for the end-of-season playoffs for the one extra
promotion spot.
It's the first time this season that Wrexham has ended a round in the playoff
places.
Wrexham has played 29 of its 46 games in its first second-tier campaign since
the 1980s following an unprecedented three straight promotions. Its surge up
the English soccer pyramid, fueled by the cash injection by Reynolds and
McElhenney since buying the club in 2020 and documented in the Emmy-winning
"Welcome to Wrexham" TV series, began in 2022 with promotion from the
non-league fifth division.
The latest win came after Josh Windass equalized in the third minute of
stoppage time and Ollie Rathbone grabbed the winner a minute later at Loftus
Road.
Windass was one of the 13 players who came to the club as part of an estimated
spending spree of around $40 million in the summer transfer window, during
which Wrexham repeatedly broke its transfer record.
The money available for transfers has been boosted by Reynolds and McElhenney
securing outside financial investment through, among others, the New York-based
Allyn family.
Wrexham also is having a good run in the FA Cup, having made it to the last 32
by beating Premier League team Nottingham Forest in a penalty shootout in the
third round.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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