Isolates of recently spreading races of yellow rust from wheat and triticale in Europe were analysed using virulence phenotypic data of 2605 isolates sampled in twelve countries between 2000 and 2014. A subset of 239 isolates was investigated by microsatellite markers. At least three races of non-European origin, termed Warrior, Kranich, and Triticale aggressive, were identified in the post-2011 population. The ‘Warrior’ race was present in high frequencies already in the first year of detection in most European countries and replaced to a large extent the pre-2011 European population, whereas the two other exotic races were localized to certain regions and/or crop type. The presence of at least six multi-locus genotypes of the Warrior race and five genotypes of the Kranich race already in the first years of detection and across large areas is consistent with a hypothesis of aerial spread from genetically diverse source populations. A comparison with reference isolates sampled from six continents suggested that the Warrior and Kranich races originated from sexual recombining populations in the centre of diversity of the yellow rust fungus in the near-Himalayan region of Asia, whereas the triticale-aggressive race was the most similar to populations in the Middle East/Central Asia. The study illustrated the potential role of sexual P. striiformis populations as a reservoir for new races replacing distant clonal populations.