Why did Liverpool play Wrexham, and what's the story behind Wrexham's rise?

Saw Liverpool vs Wrexham trending — seems like a mismatch on paper. Why would a Premier League giant be playing a small Welsh club, and how did Wrexham get this notable?

The match was a pre-season friendly, played July 29, 2026, at Yankee Stadium in New York as part of Liverpool's US preseason tour (Liverpool won 1-0). It's part of a broader trend of top European clubs playing exhibition matches in the US during the offseason to build their international fanbase — Liverpool also played Sunderland earlier in the same tour. Wrexham's presence in a matchup like this reflects a genuinely remarkable few years for the club: Wrexham AFC, one of the oldest football clubs in the world, spent over a decade in England's fifth tier before being purchased in 2020 by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, whose ownership (and the docuseries "Welcome to Wrexham" following the process) drew massive global attention to the club. Since then, Wrexham has achieved consecutive promotions up through the English football pyramid and has been pushing for a shot at reaching the Premier League itself — going from playing amateur-adjacent football to lining up against one of the most decorated clubs in the world in the span of a few years.