Wrexham Hit with Major Penalty After Illegally Fielding Two Banned Players

Wrexham have been handed a £75,000 ($100,000) fine, with £25,000 ($33,000) suspended, following the club's use of two ineligible players during the current campaign.

The English Football League (EFL) ruled the club in breach of its player eligibility regulations on two separate occasions involving summer recruits Issa Kaboré and Callum O'Hare. Club insiders maintain both incidents stemmed from administrative oversights and were unrelated to the coaching staff or newly installed sporting director Steve Nickson.

A club insider also stressed that Wrexham are treating the situation with the utmost seriousness and intend to hire a new club secretary to avoid further sanctions. An official statement read: "The Club is taking the appropriate steps to prevent such issues occurring in the future."

Why Have Wrexham Received $100,000 Fine?

Issa Kaboré

Wrexham were found to have played Kaboré in their 2–1 home loss against Birmingham City without properly filing his work-permit paperwork with the EFL. Despite holding all required documentation following his permanent move from Manchester City, it had not been formally registered with the league.

The EFL's official findings determined that final clearance of Kaboré's transfer was granted on matchday and that his player registration paperwork had been received ahead of the midday cutoff the day prior to the fixture. However, although his registration was approved, he remained ineligible to play until his right-to-work documentation was submitted — which it had not been.

The report further noted that Wrexham submitted their official team sheet 52 seconds past the deadline. Clubs must submit their team sheets 75 minutes before kickoff, placing the cutoff for the 8 p.m. BST fixture at 6:45 p.m.

Per the report, Wrexham encountered an error message when submitting the team sheet that should have flagged Kaboré's ineligibility. The club's head of football operations claimed they closed and refreshed the app, allegedly causing the error message to vanish. The EFL, however, found that the head of football operations had the app open for just 52 seconds and had not closed or relaunched the session.

The EFL consequently concluded that the error message had remained on screen and that Wrexham should have been aware of Kaboré's ineligibility. The defender entered the game as a substitute in the 71st minute of the defeat.

Callum O'Hare

Wrexham were additionally found guilty of including O'Hare in their matchday squad for the 3–0 away victory at Millwall when his registration had yet to be approved by the league.

To qualify for selection, O'Hare was required to be registered by the midday deadline on the day preceding the match. According to the EFL report, Wrexham lodged their initial submission at 11:59 a.m. BST. The Football Association rejected it roughly 10 minutes later on the grounds that none of the forms had been signed, certain documents remained in draft form and the listed transfer fee did not match the approved figure.

Wrexham then filed a second registration form at 4:45 p.m. BST. This was submitted in error and contained documents belonging to a different player. A third attempt, made at 5:38 p.m., was rejected due to several required amendments, despite having been signed.

A fourth submission followed at 7:04 p.m. BST and was accepted by all parties. Nevertheless, O'Hare's registration was not confirmed until 11:15 a.m. the next day — more than 23 hours beyond the registration deadline for the Millwall fixture.

The EFL report concluded that Wrexham's head of football operations had uploaded documents while "aware they were substantially incomplete" and that there was a "full understanding" of the midday deadline.

Wrexham acknowledged the second breach and pledged a combination of staff recruitment and training to ensure such errors are not repeated.

Wrexham Compliance Taken into Consideration

In determining the penalty, the EFL factored in Wrexham's cooperation throughout the investigation, their early admissions and their acknowledgment of the shortcomings.

The league also noted that Wrexham had the correct paperwork in place for Kaboré to be eligible against Birmingham but had simply failed to submit it. O'Hare, meanwhile, did not take part in the Millwall match.

The EFL further acknowledged that the Welsh club were taking "clear steps to prevent such issues from occurring in the future."