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Hollywood stars and Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have bought a minority stake in Liga MX’s Necaxa, a source has confirmed to ESPN.
According to the source, the deal was in the works “for months and finalized recently.”
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Variety first reported the news on Monday.
Reynolds and McElhenney join a group of fellow celebrities who have recently bought stakes in the Liga MX team. Eva Longoria, Mesut Özil, Kate Upton, Odell Beckham Jr., Justin Verlander, Victor Oladipo, Bode Miller, Richard Hamilton and Shawn Marion have all made investments in Necaxa recently, although it is unclear which of the celebrities remain as owners.
On Sunday, Longoria was in attendance at Necaxa’s 5-2 loss at home to Monterrey.
Necaxa are ninth in the Liga MX table and will take part in the play-in round of the Liga MX playoffs vs. 10th-placed Querétaro this week. The winner of the match will then take on the loser of Pachuca vs. Pumas this weekend for a place in the quarterfinal stage of the playoffs.
Once a Mexican soccer powerhouse in the 1990s, when they clinched all three of their Liga MX titles, Necaxa have struggled to reach the same heights in the 21st century. In the 2023 Apertura season, the Aguascalientes-based side finished dead last in the table.
With Reynolds and McElhenney on board, Necaxa will seek to have the same revival and global attention that Wrexham have enjoyed after the Hollywood duo bought the Welsh club in 2020.
Since the acquisition, Wrexham have achieved back-to-back promotions and will compete in English football’s third tier next season.
Although not as old as the 159-year-old Wrexham, Necaxa too are a storied club, founded in 1923.
Out of the teams that have already won a Liga MX championship, Necaxa’s title drought since 1998 is the second-longest in Mexico’s top flight.
The club has won the Concacaf Champions Cup twice, in 1996 and 1999.