Jacob Mendy: Wrexham FC star’s Hollywood journey to AFCON dream 

When Wrexham FC’s Jacob Mendy steps out onto the pitch for The Gambia at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2023 in 2024, the 26-year-old left-back will be fulfilling a lifelong dream.

The Red Dragon, currently playing in EFL League Two - the fourth level of the English Football League - has been selected as part of Tom Saintfiet’s Gambian squad for the continental showpiece beginning on Saturday 13 January.

Starting proceedings in Group C, the Scorpions will have significant work to do with matches against defending champions Senegal, Guinea and Cameroon in wait.

For Mendy, who will become the second-ever player from the Welsh club to compete at an international tournament, being chosen to represent his home country means everything:

“It is a very proud moment for me,“ the wing-back told Wrexham FC in an interview. “It has always been a dream that I can represent my country and to be selected is an honour.“

More than just another significant career milestone after Wrexham’s promotion last summer, the occasion marks something much more profound.

Though a member of the ‘Hollywood’ club that has captured the imagination of fans across the world for its underdog feel and unyielding community spirit, Mendy’s own unlikely journey is similarly one peppered with hunger, doggedness and determination.

From Gambia to Spain

Born in Faji Kunda, in 1996, Mendy was just six years old when he, his mother and five siblings left the Gambia to join their father in Spain.

Working two jobs in the construction industry, Mendy’s father first had to earn enough money to pay his family’s way.

With lingering memories of life in Africa, Mendy had little time to reflect on the world he had left behind with a new country to navigate and a new language to learn.

Raised in the suburbs of Madrid, the young Gambian naturally turned to football and as a youth player climbed up the ranks before eventually becoming a part of Atletico Madrid’s youth system.

At 17, he was named to the ‘C’ team playing in Segunda Division B, two tiers below La Liga. But in the same year he joined, the B team were relegated to the same division which meant the C team was ultimately disbanded.

Despondent but undeterred, Mendy then moved to Puerta Bonita, another team in the Spanish capital playing in the fourth tier. But just as that was developing his family decided to make another move and leave Spain for England, severing Mendy from the young life he had built.

Part-time work, part-time football

Settling in Rainham, Kent, Mendy began the process of rebuilding his life in England, but as an adult found the experience much harder than before.

“Obviously, moving from country to country is always hard,” Mendy explained in the Welcome to Wrexham documentary.

“When I actually moved to London six years ago I saw how hard it is to move to a different country as an adult and having to work and to pay the rent.”

Juggling bills and football trials tested the full capacity of Mendy’s resolve. He took on jobs at building sites and as a cleaner all while playing just to get by.

“I used to, obviously, play and work at the same time. So I had two jobs as well. I was doing a cleaning job and I used to work about 12 hours a day, so it was harder for me to find a club. It wasn’t great,” Mendy conceded to Welcome to Wrexham.

Eventually getting on to the ladder, the Gambian started on the lowest rungs of England’s much-vaunted pyramid football structure with ninth-tier side Redhill in 2017. A year later, he moved to Carshalton Athletic in the seventh tier before signing with Wealdstone in the sixth.

At each level of Mendy’s progression, his talent on the pitch began to shine brighter and brighter and with it came more attention.

After 89 appearances and 19 goals in two seasons, a reluctant Weadlstone sold Mendy to National League club Boreham Wood on a three-year deal for a record fee, meaning the footballer had finally reached the ‘professional’ level of English football and part-time day jobs could finally end.

The spirit of the Red Dragon

Just as he had done at his previous clubs, Mendy excelled at Boreham Wood.

In addition to netting two goals in his 44 appearances for the side during the 2021/22 season, he was also central to the group that defeated Championship side AFC Bournemouth in one of the biggest upsets of the FA Cup 2022.

Though eventually beaten by Premier League side Everton, the exposure of Mendy to wider audiences continued to attract interest in the player, including that of National League rivals, Wrexham.

Speaking to the Welcome to Wrexham documentary, coach Phil Parkinson detailed why he targeted Mendy and the battle the club faced trying to sign him:

“We watched Jacob a lot, and in the summer we were trying hard to get him, and we got knocked back several times by Boreham Wood. We looked at other players, and I always went back to him because I liked the hunger he played with.

“I liked the story of him coming over to England, playing in non-league in Wealdstone, first of all, working on a building site, and then moving to Boreham Wood. And I just felt his hunger and, kind of, rawness would fit in well and would be a good addition to the group we had.”

Parkinson’s instincts held firm and eventually, for an undisclosed fee, Mendy joined Wrexham in the summer of 2022.

Under the watch of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, Mendy adapted quickly to life at the Hollywood club.

His debut season turned out to be an exceptional one with the wing-back instrumental to Wrexham’s eventual promotion out of the National League into the EFL.

He then received his first international call-up, ultimately paving the way for selection at AFCON 2023.

With expectations high following Gambia's fairytale run to the quarter-finals in the 2021 edition of the tournament, the Scorpions know what lies ahead won't be easy. 

But for Mendy, whose life until now has been one long football odyssey - up the ranks of Spanish and then English football with untold hardship along the way - this challenge will be one he will relish.