Tom Brady welcomed to soccer by Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney

Tom Brady is joining the EFL Championship as a minority owner of Birmingham City FC, and his competitors are fired up. 

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who co-own Wrexham, another EFL Championship team, gave the NFL legend a warm welcome to the league ahead of the two teams’ match on Saturday.

“I know Tom a little bit and I don’t think you need to know him to know he has the spirit of a lion and a competitor in every way, shape and form,” Reynolds said, according to the Daily Mail, via Sky Sports News.

“Whatever he has cooked up for Birmingham, he is going to bring it. Come on in, the water is warm!”

McElhenney was reportedly asked if he had any advice for the seven-time Super Bowl champion, to which he turned the question right around. 

“I would never give Tom Brady words of wisdom over professional sports,” McElhenney said. “But Tom, if you have any advice for us, you could send it our way!”

Brady will reportedly serve as the club’s Chairman of the Advisory Board, counseling the team with “health, nutrition, wellness, and recovery systems and programs” and marketing.

Birmingham City is the latest in a long list of forays into sports ownership for Brady. 

Brady, who retired from the NFL this year after 23 seasons, is in the process of becoming a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

He is also partnering with Knighthead Capital in an attempt to get a Major League Pickleball expansion team for the 2023 season.

“You may be asking, “What do you know about football, Tom? Well, let’s just say I’ve got a lot to learn,” Brady said of his newest sports venture in a video posted to Birmingham City’s social media. “But I do know a few things about winning. I think they might translate pretty well.

“I know success starts with the work put in when the world isn’t watching.”