Wrexham ready for Champions League debut this evening | OneFootball

Wrexham are set to make their first ever appearance in the Women's Champions League as they host Armenian side Pyunik at the Racecourse this evening.

Unlike the Wrexham men's side, the women play in the Welsh league with last season's title win ensuring them a spot in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League.

It will be a long road to the tournament proper stage though and one that is likely to throw some much bigger hurdles at Jenny Sugarman's side. To illustrate, last year it was Cardiff City who represented Wales in the 2025/26 qualifying stage. The Bluebirds were swiftly knocked out by Republic of Ireland side Athlone Town, who then lost out to Breiðablik with the Icelandic team then losing to FC Twente – both of those games happening in the second round.

Even Twente weren't through in the tournament proper yet, they still had to navigate a third qualifying round; although they had no problem against GKS Katowice of Poland.

Twente are certainly a force in women's football and this year's path has some other big sides that, should Wrexham progress, they could end up facing; the likes of Brann, Juventus, and Hammarby, and Eintracht Frankfurt will all be expected to reach the league phase later this year.

High-profile reinforcements

Wrexham have given themselves a fighting chance this summer though with Jamaica international Natasha Thomas joining from Ipswich Town, who featured in the WSL 2 last season after having been instrumental in getting her team up the football pyramid.

Lydia Sallaway also joins on loan from Aston Villa having featured for their first team before spending the second half of last season on loan at Glasgow City. Welsh defender Mikayla Cook joined from Cardiff and has had experience in this competition last season.

Meanwhile, midfielder Bella Reidford and goalkeeper Lucy Farrell joined from Stoke City with Northern Ireland youth international Mikayla Wildgoose arriving from Derby County.

The biggest game

With the men's team on the rise since Wrexham's revival under new ownership, tonight is the first time the women's team have really come into the spotlight with manager Sugarman – who previously managed at West Brom, coached at Villa, and was a technical director at Leicester City –  underlining how big the occasion is.

"This for me is the biggest game of my career as a manager, without a doubt, and because of what it represents," Sugarman said about tonight's game.

"You have to be champions to take part in the Champions League qualifying path, and when you say it like that, it brings a lot of pride, a lot of excitement, and probably a little bit of pressure as well."

New signing Thomas was also fired up for tonight's match in her pre-match interview yesterday: "This is a massive opportunity for everyone to showcase themselves and showcase what Wrexham is about, what the Adran Premier is about, and we will put our best foot forward in order to do that."

Should Wrexham win tonight they'll face either Northern Irish side Glentoran or Riga FC of Latvia for a place in the second qualifying round when things get tough. Most importantly, the Red Dragons need to keep going as even if they miss out on the League Phase, which is likely given the strength elsewhere, then a spot in the Europa Cup could be up for grabs.