Wrexham returned to the English Football League for the first time since 2008 when the Welsh team won the National League title in 2023.
The Red Dragons have seen their popularity soar since 2021 following the club’s shock takeover by Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Greater investment and a feel-good factor at the Racecourse Ground has propelled Phil Parkinson’s team to the top of the table as part of ambitious plans in North Wales.
Reynolds has made no secret of his desire to take Wrexham up the Football League pyramid with the potential of a Premier League place not out of the equation.
What league do Wrexham play in?
Wrexham have just been promoted to League One, where the Welsh team will compete in England’s third pision for the 2024/25 campaign.
The journey to the Premier League looks like this: promotion from League Two (fourth tier) feeds into League One (third tier), and then into the EFL Championship (second tier) and finally into the Premier League (first tier ).
On this day in 1978…
One of the best days in Wrexham’s history as we gained promotion to the Second Division with a 7-1 win over Rotherham!#WxmAFC pic.twitter.com/vuWn4XMp6T
– Wrexham AFC (@Wrexham_AFC) April 22, 2022
Can Wrexham make it to the Premier League?
For Wrexham to reach the Premier League would be nothing short of incredible, considering they spent most of the century in the fifth tier, and it would take a few years of progress and constant promotions up the pyramid to finally reach the top tier.
The struggle to get promoted through the EFL (the fourth-tier ‘League Two’ to the Premier League) can be very difficult, even for teams with greater experience in the football league, but Reynolds remains ambitious.
A path to the Premier League would open new avenues for the National League as the financial gap between the top flight and the EFL Championship (second tier) continues to grow each year.
Clubs promoted from the National League to the Premier League
The only team to have been promoted from the National League to the Premier League is Luton Town, having achieved this feat in 2023.
However, five other clubs have made the jump from the fifth pision to the top flight before 1992, when it was known as the “English First Division” before the arrival of the Premier League era:
- Carlisle United
- Leyton East
- Oxford United
- Grimsby Town
- Notts County
The path from League Two (fourth tier) to the Premier League (first tier) has been achieved (and will keep Reynolds’ hopes alive) with current Premier League teams including Brentford, Brighton and Hove Albionand Bournemouth on the list.
The most impressive rise, from League Two to the Premier League, has been Brentford’s rise from obscurity to Premier League level.
After dropping to the fourth tier in 2007/08, the Bees moved up the table again, with promotion to League One (third tier) in 2009.
This was followed by a Championship (second tier) place in 2014 and a Premier League first place finish sealed in 2021, a turnaround that was 14 years in the making.
A long climb to the ?#In this day In 2009, we gained promotion to League Two at Darlington.#BrentfordFC pic.twitter.com/X6K7mw12GQ
-Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) April 25, 2022
