Wrexham CEO Outlines Racecourse Plans as New Kop Stand Opens 2026

Key Points

• As Michael Williamson, chief executive at Wrexham AFC, revealed, Kop Stand will be ready for full operation in 2027-28 season increasing the overall stadium capacity to 18,000 seats.
• The project estimated at £70 million ($95 million) is aimed at bringing Racecourse Ground back to its classic four-sided look. The Kop Stand will include such components as safe standing, hospitality, and accessible seating.
• After Kop’s opening player facilities like changing rooms and a gym will be transferred from the Wrexham Lager Stand giving the opportunity to increase supporters’ amenities in the remaining stands.
• According to Williamson, after the construction of Kop, there will be “a jigsaw puzzle” of smaller projects to improve the utilization of empty spaces before deciding on a further redevelopment of the ground.
• There are plans to arrange a club shop and to build the tunnel area leading from the stand to the pitch.
• Although some season-ticket holders could be moved to Kop, the key attention right now will be paid to improving facilities in Macron, Tec, and Wrexham Lager stands.
• Partial opening of Kop Stand with a limited number of seats during 2026-27 season is still being discussed by the city and contractors.
• The design of the Kop allows for the possibility of expanding the stadium to 30,000 seats and hosting international matches.

Wrexham (Wales Times) August 31, 2026 – AFC chief executive Michael Williamson has set out the club’s phased approach to further development at the Racecourse Ground following significant progress on the new Kop Stand, emphasising that the stand’s completion will “unlock” opportunities to improve supporter facilities across the historic stadium before any decision is taken on the next major expansion project.

What are Wrexham’s Racecourse development plans after the Kop Stand opens?

As reported by the Leader Live, Williamson said the benefit of focusing on the Kop now is that its design was intentionally “future proofed” to enable the club to explore improvements in other areas once it is operational. He described the period after the Kop opens as a “jigsaw puzzle”, in which the club will assess how best to use spaces freed up by the relocation of player services and other functions into the new stand.

“The player services area will go into the Kop, there will be a footprint for a club shop at the Kop,” Williamson said, according to the Leader Live. He added that this raises questions about the current player services area in the uk/local/wrexham/">Wrexham Lager Stand and the gym located there, especially given the new training facilities at Colliers Park which include a gym in the training pavilion.

Williamson indicated that before the club looks at the next steps of major redevelopment projects, there are “a lot of smaller projects” to undertake once the Kop is up and running, aimed at improving different stands based on what is opened up as a result of the Kop being open. “We are thinking about all of it, but we need to open up the Kop and see what transitions over and what doesn’t to be able to allow us to say, ‘okay, now how can we best use these other areas’?” he said, as quoted by the Leader Live.

How will the new Kop Stand change facilities at the Racecourse Ground?

Work is well underway to make the Racecourse Ground four-sided once again, with Williamson revealing he hopes the stand will be fully open for the start of the 2027-28 campaign, taking capacity to around 18,000 seats. Some facilities in the Wrexham Lager Stand, such as the changing rooms and players’ gym, will be moved to the Kop, which will also house the tunnel area leading onto the pitch, freeing up space in the Wrexham Lager Stand.

While some season-ticket holders will decide to take up the opportunity to move to the Kop, Williamson says the focus will be on improving areas and facilities for supporters in the other stands once it is fully operational. He noted that this is the objective before deciding on the next major development project, as there is the possibility to expand the other stands and further increase the capacity of the Racecourse.

“One of the things that we did when we looked at the Kop, it was about future proofing,” Williamson said, according to the Leader Live. “The benefit is that we can focus on the Kop now, but we also know that when we designed the Kop, it was with the understanding that we could start to explore other areas of the stadium and continue to try to improve on all that.”

When will the Kop Stand be fully operational at the Racecourse?

Williamson has previously stated that the plan is for the Kop to be open and fully operational in August for the 2027-28 season, as reported by SI.com. The club is working with the city and contractors to see if, even with a minimal number of seats, the stand can be opened without the full range of services or amenities it will eventually have, but still provide seats for supporters during matches as soon as possible.

Wrexham still hope to open the stand in a limited capacity during the final months of the 2026-27 season, although the full opening is not expected until the 2027-28 campaign. The new 5,500-seat Kop Stand will restore the Racecourse Ground to a four-sided stadium and could increase the overall capacity to just over 18,000 if a separate planning application to expand the stand to 7,500 seats is approved.

What is the cost and capacity of Wrexham’s new Kop Stand?

The overall cost of the project is expected to reach roughly $95 million, with Wrexham contributing $67.62 million, according to SI.com. The new Kop stand will hold 7,750 spectators, pushing the stadium’s total capacity past 18,000, as reported by BBC Sport.

A boost of around 7,500 extra seats will help to take the overall capacity past 18,000, which is bigger than both Brentford and Bournemouth’s current Premier League capacities, while significant new hospitality offerings also offer crucial new sources of income. The design allows for future expansion to 30,000 seats, according to Wrexham AFC News.

Who is leading Wrexham AFC’s stadium redevelopment strategy?

Michael Williamson serves as chief executive officer of Wrexham AFC, overseeing the club’s stadium redevelopment strategy alongside director Shaun Harvey, as noted in reporting by The Athletic and BBC Sport. Co-owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have been involved in discussions over transfers and stadium development, with Reynolds and McElhenney attending to inspect the Kop Stand development over the summer months, according to BBC Sport.

Williamson described the new Kop Stand as “a real symbol of hope ahead”, as quoted by BBC Sport. He has also revealed that he rejected a request from Ryan Reynolds to have a secret room built inside the club’s new Kop Stand, as reported by SI.com.

Background of the Racecourse Ground redevelopment

The Racecourse Ground is the world’s oldest international football stadium still in continuous use, having been the venue for Wales’ first home international match in 1877. Wrexham broke ground on the full construction phase of the new Kop Stand in December 2025, with the council’s planning committee unanimously approving plans for a new 5,500-seater Kop stand on 3 March, just a month after Williamson publicly shared the plans.

The new plans, which the club believe will be approved by the local council, are centred around an extra 2,250 seats being added to the second tier of the new Kop. When the revised designs for the new Kop Stand were submitted earlier this year, the intention was always to future-proof the Racecourse Ground so that it could hold international matches for many years to come, thus remaining true to its legacy as the oldest international ground still in use, according to Football Ground Guide.

Prediction: How will the Kop Stand development affect Wrexham supporters?

The phased approach to development outlined by Williamson suggests that Wrexham supporters can expect incremental improvements to facilities across the Macron, Tec, and Wrexham Lager stands once the Kop is operational, rather than an immediate next major expansion. The relocation of player services and the gym to the Kop, along with the new club shop footprint, is likely to free up space that could be reconfigured for enhanced supporter amenities, hospitality areas, or additional seating in existing stands.

If the club proceeds with expanding the other stands after optimising the use of vacated areas, the Racecourse Ground’s capacity could rise beyond 18,000 towards the 30,000-seat design ceiling, improving matchday experience and revenue potential. For season-ticket holders, the opening of the Kop may offer opportunities to relocate to the new stand, but the immediate focus on smaller projects suggests that improvements to current stands will be prioritised to minimise disruption and maximise benefits for existing supporters.