Racecourse Ground – construction description

Why should a new stand be built at the Racecourse Ground?

In late 2020 and early 2021, two American actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, became the new owners of Wrexham AFC. One of their priority tasks was to solve the problem of the east stand (known as The Kop) at the Racecourse Ground.

The Kop stand, the oldest at the entire facility, had been out of use since 2008 due to its non-compliance with safety requirements. Meanwhile, due to high ambitions and interest in matches, the club needed to make more seats available to fans at the stadium.

How did the implementation of the new stand at the Wrexham stadium begin?

Already in the summer of 2021, the first step was taken, removing the metal railings from the old stand. In June 2022, the club became the owner of the stadium again, plans and renderings of the new stand were made public (the design was prepared by AFL Architects), and the local authorities authorized the demolition.

In November 2022, the city approved plans to build a new stand. At the end of 2022, demolition of the old structure began, which was completed in early 2023. The club's owners hoped to obtain funding for the construction from a government program, but in January 2023 the project was not included in the list of awarded grants.

Despite the denial, Wrexham AFC's owners hoped to raise the missing funds on their own, so that the new stand would be ready before the start of the 2024/25 season. However, work did not start on time and the summer 2024 opening date became unrealistic.

Despite the failure to start construction of the stand, the stadium has seen the replacement of floodlight masts. Three of the four were replaced in April/May 2023, while the last (fourth) was replaced in August 2023.

On July 1, 2023, the stadium was given a new commercial name: STōK Cae Ras.

Due to ongoing problems with the project, the club decided to build a temporary, unroofed stand for 2,289 spectators for the home fans in December 2023.

When will the new The Kop stand at the Wrexham stadium be built?

In October 2024, it was announced that a partnership had been established with the renowned Populous studio to prepare a new design for The Kop stand.

Renderings of the new stand at the Racecourse Ground, developed by Populous, were published on February 3, 2025. The new design is more ambitious and visually appealing than the previous one (from AFL Architects), although it assumes the same capacity of the stand (5,500 spectators).

Construction of the new stand is likely to begin in the 2025 summer break and take a year to complete, so that it will be ready for the U-19 European Championships, to be held in Wales in the summer of 2026.