FX and Disney+ order documentary series about the Mexican club Necaxa

FX and Disney+ Latin America have commissioned a docuseries centered on popular Mexican soccer club Club Necaxa, with Eva Longoria and “Welcome to Wrexham” duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney on board as executive producers and on-air stars.

The deal with FX/Disney+ comes three months after Reynolds and McElhenney Longoria joined as investors in Club Necaxa. Filming on the untitled series began today in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The team recently relocated to the city known as the “Land of Good People” after several rough seasons in Necaxa’s original hometown of Mexico City. The series will be bilingual in English and Spanish.

The untitled series is adapted from the FX series “Welcome to Wrexham,” which documents the revival of a Welsh soccer team after Reynolds and McElhenney purchased the club in 2021.

According to FX, the series will follow the Necaxa “as they try to reclaim their place as one of Mexico’s top teams, while their Mexican-American owner Eva Longoria tries to breathe new life into the team by enlisting the help of her celebrity friends, including new co-owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.”

Reynolds and McElhenney bought into the century-old Necaxa club to bring the “Wrexham” model to another country. The pair are working with Longoria and fellow investors Al Tylis and Sam Porter to improve Necaxa’s reputation and raise its profile in international sporting circles at a time when demand for football content on TV and via streaming is increasing. Longoria helped bring Reynolds and McElhenney into the investor group.

The series is produced by Longoria’s Hyphenate Media Group, the company she launched last year in partnership with Banijay CEO Cris Abrego. Longoria, McElhenney, Reynolds and Abrego serve as executive producers alongside Rachelle Mendez, Nick Frenkel, Jackie Cohn, George Dewey and Alex Fumero. In addition to Hyphenate Media Group, the untitled project is also produced by More Better Productions, Maximum Effort Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Reynolds, the “Deadpool” star who has an impressive track record as an investor and entrepreneur, and McElhenney, the versatile comedy writer known for the offbeat comedies “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “Mythic Quest,” made the investment through their RR McReynolds Company, which owns Wrexham AFC.

The third season of FX’s Welcome to Wrexham premiered on May 2. The series documents the revitalization of the poor town that came with the influx of capital to the storied team, which is one of the oldest soccer clubs in the world but has fallen on hard times. Season 1 of Welcome to Wrexham won five Emmy Awards in 2023, including the trophy for Best Unstructured Reality Program.