Wrexham Council nets grant for football museum

Wrexham Council has secured a £45,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for its plans to develop a national football museum for Wales.

The award offers the council the chance to secure a further grant of more than £2m to complete the project. The Museum of Two Halves – The Football Museum for Wales is being developed at Wrexham Museum.

The Grade 2 listed building will house a local history museum and the football museum. There will be improved facilities and new off-site collections store. The venue will be operated and managed by Wrexham Council.

The grant will help the project team to develop an events and learning programme designed to ensure that the new museum will serve communities throughout Wales, not just Wrexham County Borough.

The football museum’s galleries will provide a permanent space to display the growing Welsh Football Collection for the first time since it was established in 2000. The aim is to attract 80,000 visitors a year to the two museums.

Councillor Paul Roberts, the lead member for partnerships and community safety at Wrexham Council, said, “This is brilliant news for Wrexham and I look forward to receiving updates on progress and to eventually enjoying visiting the Museum of Two Halves – The Football Museum for Wales and the new Wrexham Museum.”

The project is being guided by a steering group that includes the chief executive of the council, representatives from the Welsh Government, the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the Heritage Fund, Sporting Heritage Network, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, staff at Wrexham Museum and other stakeholders.

The FAW was formed in 1876 at Wrexham’s Wynnstay Arms Hotel and its 150th anniversary is in 2026.