Wrexham AFC Women are big news now, but achievements from previous seasons should never be forgotten

Wrexham AFC Women are massive news in 2025-26 but previous ladies teams representing the club had their special moments too.

In the first season the Welsh Premier Women’s League went fully national, 2012-13, Wrexham Ladies finished third behind Cardiff City and Cardiff Met.

That remained the best position achieved by a North Wales team until the current club Wrexham AFC Women equalled it in 2023-24.

Of course in 2025-26, Jenny Sugarman’s Red Dragons broke new ground when they finished not only as Adran Premier champions, but also lifted the Adran Trophy – the best achievement in North Wales women’s football history.

In past years, the likes of Bangor City and Caernarfon Town had shone brightest for the north in women’s football in the English pyramid system, but Wrexham became the chief flag bearers in the first decade of the new millennium.

Numerous good players emerged through the Wrexham Ladies teams of the 2000s and 2010s, including goal-getters like Lowri Edwards, Sydney Hinchcliffe, Ashleigh Hayes and Lexi Musgrave.

Other names such as Steph Taylor, future Wales internationals Alys Hinchcliffe and Delyth Morgan, midfield star Lyndsey Rodger and defender Kate Edwards were also key names and top talents of the era. Some went on to bigger things.

It is important to remember the progress of the earlier Wrexham women’s teams as they are a major part of the club’s history.

WOMEN’S FOOTBALL IN WREXHAM

The first women’s football team affiliated with the club was formed in 1993. They played their first match in July 1993 – a 2-2 draw against Chester City at Yale College and the following season joined the North West Women’s Regional Football League’s fourth division playing home matches at Stansty Park.

In their first season they secured a third-placed finish, and promotion to Division Three, and in 1994-95 they were promoted again, securing the runners’ up spot and competed in the Women’s FA Cup for the first time, losing to Manchester United.

The club moved their home games to Chester Road, Broughton in 1995. That season proved to be their peak – a 9th placed finish in Division Two of the NWWRFL and a FAW Women’s Cup quarter final appearance.

The following season they were relegated after finishing bottom of the table, and at the end of the campaign severed their link with Wrexham, becoming Broughton Aerospace.

The club reverted to Wrexham for the 2001/02 season, finishing fifth in the NWWRFL Division 1, before changing again to Airbus UK Broughton.

In 2003, the NEWI Wrexham Ladies Football Club was formed, becoming part of the new North Wales Women’s Football League.

The initial squad drew players from the North East Wales Institute (NEWI) and the Yale College, Wrexham and played their home games next door to the Racecourse Ground. They reached the FAW Women’s Welsh Cup Final in 2008.

As of 2009 the club was formally taken under the umbrella of Wrexham Football Club and its success grew.

The club were founder members of the Welsh Premier Women’s League in 2009 , taking part in the four-team Northern Conference.

They ran away with the Northern Division in 2011/12 before finishing runners-up in the Championship Final against UWIC , narrowly missing out on European football.

When the league became fully national in 2012/13, Wrexham finished third in the first season and then sixth in each of the next two campaigns.

However, in 2015-16 the club folded due to a lack of players, withdrawing from the Welsh Premier.

In 2018, the club reformed as Wrexham AFC Women, joining the North Wales Women’s Football League.

Wrexham entered the bottom tier as a new club of Division Two. In that season, Wrexham won the Division Two League Cup, beating Rhyl Development 3–2 in a final hosted at Bala Town’s Maes Tegid, but lost the League’s Supplementary Cup final to Amlwch Town. They finished the season 4th in the league and gained promotion to Division One.

In 2019/20, the COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short with Wrexham in eighth place after losing all league games.

November 2020 saw Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor Rob McElhenney, through their RR McReynolds Company LLC, purchase Wrexham AFC.

Due to the Christmas 2020 second lockdown, the 2020–21 season was cancelled with no games being played.

When football restarted, Wrexham joined the new Adran North national tier 2 league. They just missed out on the title in the 2021-22 season, but finished as champions the following campaign with a 100 percent record and won a play-off to reach the Adran Premier.

Investment in the team enabled it to become semi-professional, and after three seasons in the Adran Premier the current campaign brought the unmatched achievement of being crowned Welsh champions.