The University of California, Santa Barbara will be hosting a pair of international professional soccer clubs as Wrexham AFC and AFC Bournemouth square off at Harder Stadium on July 20th.
The match will be the first match on Wrexham's 'Wrex Coast Tour', while Bournemouth are in the midst of their 'Born in the USA Tour'.
“We are very excited to be joining the Rex Coast Tour and hosting Wrexham AFC and AFC Bournemouth here in Santa Barbara,” said UCSB Athletic Director Kelly Barsky. “This partnership is special because part of our mission in athletics is to serve and connect the communities in which we are deeply involved.
“Bringing quality soccer to UC Santa Barbara's Harder Stadium, long known as a soccer paradise, with a team that has a shared focus on serving our community is truly special.”
Tickets for this UK team showdown will be sold through AXS, with pre-sales exclusively for Santa Barbara community groups beginning Thursday, April 25th at 8 a.m. PST.
Advance tickets for the team will begin Thursday at 10 a.m. PT, with general tickets on sale at 12 p.m. PT. Tickets can be found at this link.
Wrexham AFC, which will be competing in English Football League One this season, has been in the headlines since actors Rob McElhenny and Ryan Reynolds bought the club in 2020.
The club is also the focus of FX's Emmy Award-winning documentary series Welcome to Wrexham.
Wrexham is the oldest professional football club in Wales and the third oldest in the world.
Wrexham Executive Director Humphrey Kerr said: “This is a very exciting announcement for our club as we add another Premier League club to the Wrex Coast Tour of North America.”
“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 has been amazing and we are excited to head to beautiful Santa Barbara and look forward to seeing many fans at this game.”
Meanwhile, AFC Bournemouth has been participating in the Premier League, England's top soccer league, since 2015.
AFC Bournemouth is owned by Bill Foley and first-year Spanish head coach Andoni Iraola has developed a strong and interesting style of play at the club.
Young stars such as Dominic Solanke, Justin Kluivert and US men's national team captain Tyler Adams will suit up for AFC Bournemouth at Harder Stadium.
AFC Bournemouth CEO Neil Blake said: “We are delighted to announce this match as we review our summer touring plans. “We are very excited to bring our team to America and look forward to this being our season opener.
“This will be a good first test for us as we look to build on our success in the Premier League. We can't wait to meet all the Cherries fans stateside. We look forward to introducing ourselves to even more people while we're in California.”
TEG Sport will be the event promoter for the match in late July.
“This announcement of the second leg of the Wrex Coast Tour is a great fixture for Wrexham AFC to test themselves against one of the Premier League's most interesting and promising teams,” said Geoff Jones, CEO of TEG Sports. .
“We recognize that there is a high demand for elite competition between European soccer clubs in the United States, and we are pleased to have AFC Bournemouth on board as a partner. This matchup is sure to be an interesting match. We look forward to seeing many fans at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara.”
