A Boreham Wood player has had to get special dispensation to play against Blackpool on Saturday because he is a convicted football hooligan.
Veli Hakki is serving a six-year suspension from spectating at Football League grounds.
But the Home Office has given him permission to play at Bloomfield Road in the first round of the FA Cup.
He served a year in jail after being caught rioting on CCTV cameras after Birmingham's defeat to Millwall in a play-off match.
Boreham Wood chairman Danny Hunter said Hakki, a 23-year-old carpenter, had paid his dues.
Hunter told the Blackpool Gazette: "He has taken his punishment and that should be the end of the matter.
"It happened before he played for Boreham Wood Football Club.
"He is not coming as a spectator but a footballer and we are just concentrating on football."
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