{"id":40011,"date":"2025-08-02T12:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40011\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T12:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:59:13","slug":"french-wrexham-receive-investment-from-tennis-icon-novak-djokovic-and-former-f1-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40011\/","title":{"rendered":"‘French Wrexham’ receive investment from Tennis icon Novak Djokovic and former F1 drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac set the standard for what it means to be a celebrity football club owner.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, Wrexham<\/a> were sold to the North American duo for \u00a32m.<\/p>\n

Ryan Reynolds<\/a> and Rob Mac<\/a> want Premier League football, and they are now just one division away from achieving that.<\/p>\n

The Red Dragons have won three promotions in a row, and Reynolds expects another promotion by 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No side in the history of English football had climbed three divisions in three seasons when starting in the fifth tier or higher prior to Wrexham.<\/p>\n

But there is a side in France on a similarly impressive rise that has now received celebrity investment.<\/p>\n

\"RyanPhoto by Robbie Jay Barratt \u2013 AMA\/Getty ImagesNovak Djokovic invests in \u2018French Wrexham\u2019<\/p>\n

Le Mans Sports Club were founded in 1900 and spent many years in the lower leagues of French football.<\/p>\n

In 2024\/25, they finished second in the third tier, securing promotion up to Ligue 2 ahead of 2025\/26.<\/p>\n

Their meteoric rise, which saw them in the fifth tier nine years ago, has seen them earn the nickname the \u2018French Wrexham\u2019, as per the Sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, as well as jumping out to the second division in their country at the same time as Wrexham, Le Mans now have their own celebrity investment.<\/p>\n

This comes with Tennis icon Novak Djokovic, and former F1 drivers Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen, buying a stake in the club.<\/p>\n

On the investment, Massa said: \u201cI think everyone knows my passion for football, which is leading me to take this step today.<\/p>\n

\u201cLe Mans FC has a strong connection with motorsport, and when my good friend and partner Georgios Frangulis presented the project to me, I wanted to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially alongside people I deeply respect, like Djokovic, who needs no introduction, and Magnussen, with whom I shared many years in Formula One. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s undeniably a great opportunity, taking advantage of the momentum of French football, the reigning Champions League champion, which is currently attracting significant investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NovakPhoto by Ezra Shaw\/Getty ImagesRyan Reynolds and Rob Mac will face celebrity owners in 2025\/26<\/p>\n

While Wrexham will not be competing against Le Mans anytime soon, there are some big Championship clubs looking to copy the success of Reynolds and Mac.<\/p>\n

Tom Wagner hit out at Wrexham fans<\/a> following their comments on Birmingham City, who NFL icon Tom Brady is invested in.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Welsh rivals Swansea City are now partners with Snoop Dogg<\/a> going into the new campaign.<\/p>\n

The Blues also won promotion from League One last term, while Swansea have remained in the second tier for several years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac set the standard for what it means to be a celebrity football club…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-40011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}