Whoever says North America doesn't get 'football' needs to get down to The Pint two hours before Wrexham took on Vancouver WhiteCaps at BC Place. In front of 36,000. In a friendly.
Yes, that's a League One club playing an MLS team's second string on a pre-season tour – and people cared about it. A few years ago none of those words would ever have been put together in any sentence. Ever.
But then there's the small matter of the popular documentary Welcome to Wrexham documentary made by Vancouver-native Ryan Reynolds . And just like that, Vancouver is a bona-fide 'soccer city'. But all that is just a warm up.
In 2026 the city will host World Cup games with people from all over the world flocking to Western Canada, with nearly a million expected to visit the region. So if it can please a few hundred Wrexham fans just happy to be there, what can it offer the rest of the footballing world? The welcome to Wrexham (fans) Yes, Wrexham fans travelled 4,548 miles to reach the seventh largest city in Canada and the few hundred who made the trip got a warm welcome as soon as we landed. From an evening with the Vancouver Welsh Society at Cambrian Hall on Watson Street to many meet ups in local bars and pubs (more of this below), Vancouver made us feel at home.
Some of us even ventured out for some culture and sightseeing (again, more below), but don't worry, the rest of us didn't judge them. What you need to know (and do) Well here's the tourist-approved blurb: "A city where mountains m.