"This one is personal," said Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney after announcing RBC as Wrexham's new official banking partner. One of them, apparently, opened their first account with Royal Bank of Canada. The joke lands — but so does the deal.
Canada's largest bank doesn't hand out sponsorships casually. RBC's existing portfolio includes the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and LA Galaxy. Wrexham now sits in that company. For a club that was playing fifth-tier football in the National League just four years ago, that's a remarkable position to be in.
Three promotions. Now a Championship club with a major bank on the kit.
The timeline here is worth letting sink in. Reynolds and Mac took over in 2021. Three consecutive promotions followed. Wrexham now play in the Championship — England's second tier — and open their season against Cardiff City on Monday, with RBC's shield sitting above the players' names on the home, away, and third kits for both the men's and women's teams.
RBC chief executive Dave McKay framed it around community, which is standard sponsorship language. What isn't standard is the scale of attention Wrexham has generated. The Welcome to Wrexham documentary turned a Welsh club founded in 1864 — the third oldest professional club in the world — into a genuinely global story. That kind of reach is exactly what a bank looking to grow its brand internationally is paying for.
The football side of this matters too. Wrexham in the Championship means tougher fixtures, bigger squads to compete against, and a genuine question about whether the fairytale has a ceiling. Promotion odds to the Premier League will be long this season — the Championship is where many clubs' upward momentum stalls. The RBC deal brings financial muscle that could help sustain a serious promotion push rather than just a romantic one.
Cardiff City on Monday. RBC on the shirt. The world still watching.
