Cross border derby

Cross-border derby is a football match played between Wrexham and Chester City/Chester. The clubs are just 12 miles apart but represent Wales and England respectively. However, both clubs almost physically play in Wales—Chester's ground straddles the England–Wales border, and its pitch lies entirely in Wales.

Contents

• Notable fixtures
• Chester City and Wrexham
• Chester FC and Wrexham
• Chester City Chester and Wrexham
• Chester FC vs Wrexham
• All time appearances
• All time goal scorers
• References

Wrexham edged the English-Welsh derby with 30 victories against Chester's 26 in Football League meetings. Between 1986 and 2005, the sides were in the same division in just one season (1994–95) but they were then Football League Two opponents in the three campaigns from 2005–06 to 2007–08. In 2009–10 the sides clashed again in the Conference National after Chester followed Wrexham out of the Football League. Games between the two are usually moved to Sunday, with a 12:00 kick off, minimising time for the consumption of alcohol and the risk of the two sets of supporters clashing. In the 2012-13 season, Chester won promotion to return to the Conference Premier after a three-year absence, and played Wrexham at the Racecourse ground, in a highly anticipated derby, as this was the first since Chester re-formed as a fan owned club. All away fans had to travel to the match via coaches and police escourt and were unable to travel by train, unlike most years. Despite going into the game with a poor form of recent games, Chester won the match 2-0, recording their first win of the season.

The Cross-border derby is often considered to be one of the biggest rivalries in the lower leagues of English football, due to the close proximity of Wrexham and Chester as they are the largest settlements in the area (North east Wales/West Cheshire) and the only clubs in that area to have played in The Football League. The Welsh-English divide also makes it unique to other football derbies in Britain, as national identity is a large part of the two teams.