A Welsh rivalry but is Wrexham v Cardiff a derby?

Does a derby between two clubs that are 138 miles apart really merit the title of derby?

In a match that has piqued a lot of interest this week, Wrexham hosts Cardiff City in the fourth round of the EFL Cup.

Swansea City and Bristol City are Cardiff fans’ derby rivals, while Chester City and Shrewsbury Town have traditionally been Wrexham’s local rivals.

The clubs’ rivalries extend beyond playing games on the field, despite the distance and the 21-year anniversary of their last meeting.

The birthplace of Welsh football is versus the capital city in this clash of north and south.

Wrexham, which was founded in 1864, is the third-oldest professional association football team in the world and the oldest club in Wales.

The Football Association of Wales was established at the town’s Wynnstay Arms Hotel in 1876, and Wrexham is acknowledged as the city’s birthplace.

Both clubs have won the Welsh Cup 23 times and have previously had notable success, making them the most successful sides overall.

The European Cup Winners’ Cup, which ended its final season in 1998-99, was where the winners used to compete.

In 1967-68, Cardiff advanced to the semi-finals, and the following year, they defeated Real Madrid in Ninian Park’s greatest game.

Wrexham reached the 1975-1976 quarter-finals with a defeat to Anderlecht, but they also won a famous match against Porto with a 1-0 victory in 1984.

Both teams have also won the FA Cup against Arsenal in recent years.

One of Cardiff City’s three final appearances was in 1927, when they became the first and only Welsh club to win the FA Cup.

Wrexham defeated the Gunners, who were the reigning First Division champions, 2-1 in the third round, which was one of the competition’s biggest shocks in 1992.

Wrexham and Cardiff City are both owned by foreigners, but they are no strangers to adversity.

Since their takeover of Wrexham in 2021, Hollywood stars Reynolds and McElhenney have fueled a dramatic and well-known upward trend in the company’s fortunes.

Wrexham moved from the non-league wilderness to the Championship after two automatic promotions, one step further than the Premier League.

The club’s profile has grown all over the world thanks to Reynolds and McElhenney’s involvement as well as the documentary “Welcome to Wrexham.”

The controversial reign of Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan as the owner of Cardiff began in 2010 and the club has since switched from the Premier League to League One.

After receiving backlash from supporters, Tan switched club colors in 2012 and was forced to make a U-turn.

Their paths didn’t cross in league action until 1975, though their first Welsh Cup final was exactly in 1920.

The Welsh Cup offered a silver lining and the two clubs locked horns in the 1988 Welsh Cup final when Alan Curtis scored as Cardiff won the cup and promoted twice. However, the drop to the Fourth Division caused both clubs to drop to the fourth division in the 1980s.

The Football League was once again a regular fixture during the 1990s, not the least of which came when Cardiff, under Eddie May, defeated Wrexham to the 1993 Third Division [now League One] title.

When Gary Bennett scored twice at the National Stadium to win the final Welsh Cup for teams with origins in England, Wrexham won.

Meetings have since become sporadic, only four in the past 30 years, because of their variations.

The conflict extends to the field of play, though.

Although both Wrexham and Cardiff, home to the national team, the Football Association of Wales made the controversial decision in 1986 to relocate its headquarters to Cardiff.

The world’s oldest international football stadium, Stok Cae Ras, which was built in Wrexham and is still home to international competitions, is the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham.

In games in Wrexham-Cardiff, Waynne Phillips and Nathan Blake squared off against one another.

Phillips was a member of the Wrexham side that defeated Cardiff City in the 1995 Welsh Cup final.

He claimed that “Cardiff is a derby because of the rivalry between two clubs,” adding that it will always be that.

“For the past 20 years, Wrexham have played in the highest league for the past 20 years.

They will both defend the case, but Wrexham is the biggest club in the situation given what is happening.

We haven’t played each other frequently in the past 15 or 20 years, and this one is unique because it’s up for grabs in the last eight.

Nathan Blake, an ex-Wales international, helped Cardiff beat Wrexham to the Division Three title in 1994 with a win at the Racecourse.

It was a derby, Blake said, “looking back to the nineties.”

The fact that Joey Jones would have the Wrexham boys completely dissolved would be a testament to how many teams traveled to each other in large, large numbers.