Rising Stars will be Welcome in Wrexham

As the 2026 FIFA World Cup showcases the best footballers in a generation, across the Atlantic, stars of the future will gather in the unlikely location of North Wales.

The annual UEFA European Under-19 Championship sees eight of Europe’s elite footballing nations challenge for this coveted trophy from 28 June to 11 July.

Erling Haaland, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Fernando Torres and Viktor Gyökeres are just a few players to have used this tournament to springboard their careers into the stratosphere.

But whilst the world’s elite play in vast ultra-modern arenas such SoFi (Los Angeles Stadium), Hard Rock (Miami Stadium) and MetLife (New York New Jersey Stadium) four slightly more humble venues have been selected to host the stars of the future.

• Racecourse Ground, Wrexham (10,200)

• Central Park, Denbigh (2,400)

• The Oval, Caernarfon (3,000)

• Bangor City Stadium, Bangor (3,000)

Central Park, Denbigh (2,400); The Oval, Caernarfon (3,000); Bangor City Stadium, Bangor (3,000), Photos Courtesy of UEFA

The ‘Hollywood’ venue is of course the Racecourse Ground (Y Cae Ras) which holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest international football stadium in the world. In modern times it’s known as the location for Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds’ hugely successful ‘Welcome to Wrexham’ FX documentary. The stadium will host the first match of the tournament on 28 June, three further games and the prestige final at 20:00 BST on 11 July. 

Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, Photo by Chris Tuck, Stadium Journey

The competition began in 1948, starting life as the International Youth Tournament. After further iterations the tournament has had its current name since 2002.

The current holders are Spain, and they are favourites again for the 2026 tournament. The full list of contenders is:

• Spain U19

• France U19

• Netherlands U19

• England U19

• Germany U19

• Denmark U19

• Wales U19

• Montenegro U19

Whilst North Wales may seem a little ‘low key’ compared to New York, Miami and LA, you’d be wise to reconsider. North Wales is the home of the stunning Snowdonia National Park, popular beaches, the Menai Bridge and Caernarfon Castle, where the investiture of the Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) took place in July 1989.

With such a beautiful location, extremely reasonable ticket prices, a variety of accommodation options for under £100 a night and a chance to say you’ve seen the next Ronaldo, there is still time to plan your stadium journey to North Wales.

For fixture updates and ticket information visit the UEFA tournament webpage here.

Stadium Journey will review each of the 4four tournament stadia from a fan’s perspective. Look out for these in the coming days.