UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – It’s a summer sizzle at Harder Stadium as UCSB will be part of the Wrex Coast Tour.
The all-British matchup between Wrexham AFC vs AFC Bournemouth will take place on July 20th at UC Santa Barbara. It’s the first of a three-match tour for the Red Dragons who are making their way up the West Coast.
“To be part of the Wrex Coast Tour, and host Wrexham AFC and AFC Bournemouth here in Santa Barbara is hugely exciting,” said Director of Athletics Kelly Barsky. “The partnership is a special one as part of our mission in athletics is to serve and connect a deeply engaged community. To bring high caliber soccer to Harder Stadium, long referred to as Soccer Heaven, on our UC Santa Barbara campus with teams that share a focus on serving the community is truly exceptional.”
Wrexham AFC have shot to prominence globally since actor and entrepreneurs Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds purchased the club in 2020. The club has been featured in the immensely popular Welcome to Wrexham docu-series on FX. Founded in 1864, Wrexham is the oldest professional soccer club in Wales, and the third oldest in the world. With their proud Welsh support at their back, Wrexham have recently risen back up through the divisions and have just confirmed a second-successive promotion, which elevates them back to League One (the third tier of English football) next season. The club has a hugely supportive American fan base and returns to North America for the second successive preseason.
“This is a hugely exciting announcement for our club, as we add another Premier League club to our Wrex Coast Tour in North America,” said Wrexham Executive Director Humphrey Ker. “Andoni Iraola has quickly established AFC Bournemouth as one of the most exciting young teams in the Premier League, and we can’t wait to test ourselves against them. Our support in California is fantastic and we’re excited to be heading to beautiful Santa Barbara, and looking forward to seeing many of our fans at this game.”
(UCSB Athletics Sports Information contributed to this article).
UCSB provided the following information regarding tickets for this game:
Tickets for this event will go on sale on Thursday, April 25. The first wave of tickets will be on presale to the Santa Barbara community in hopes of packing Harder Stadium with Santa Barbara County locals. This presale will take place from 8 am until 12 pm PT. Once noon hits, tickets will go on sale to the general public. All tickets will be sold through ucsbgauchos.com/tickets in partnership with AXS.
