Grimsby Town have been fined £20,000 by the English Football League (EFL) after fielding an ineligible player in their Carabao cup second-round victory over Manchester United.
The sanctions, confirmed on Tuesday September 2, 2025, includes £10,000 suspended until the end of the season, pending any further breaches.
The offence arose from the late registration of midfielder Clark Odour, who joined on loan from Bradford City on August 26.
Although his registration was approved, Grimsby submitted the paperwork one minute past 12 pm deadline, making him technically ineligible under EFL rules.
Despite this Odour was brought on in the 73rd minute of the match at Blundell Park.
Ironically, he was the only Grimsby player to miss in the dramatic 12-11 penalty shout-out win following a 2-2 draw in normal time.
The club will not face expulsion from the competition, with the fine serving as the official punishment.
However, when this incident happened before with other clubs, these were their fines:
In October 2019, Liverpool were fined £200,000 of which £100,000 was suspended, for fielding Pedro Chirvella in an EFL Cup third-round win against MK Dons.
Chirvella did not play in the competition, but the EFL said it “wasn’t appropriate” to remove Liverpool because of “mitigating factors”.
In 2016, Accrington Stanley received a suspended fine of £5,000 for fielding Janoi Donacien in their first match of the season – a League Two victory against Doncaster Rovers as well as a first-round EFL Cup win over Bradford City.
Donacien had not received international clearance following the expiration of a loan spell at Newport County in the previous season.
In August 2013, Sunderland were fined £25,000 for fielding Ji Dong-won, who was ineligible, in an EFL Cup win against MK Dons.
-9News Nigeria.
