Matthew Pennington (born 6 October 1994) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

. He has also played for Everton and

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

, with loan spells at

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

and

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He has also represented the

England national under-19 football team England national under-19 football team, also known as England under-19s or England U19(s), represents England in association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two team ...

at international level.

Club career

Everton

Pennington joined Everton at the age of 11. In July 2013, he signed a new contract which would keep him at the club until the summer of 2015, followed by a three-year deal taking him to 2018. He played in two friendlies during July 2015, against

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and

, and made his full debut against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

in the League Cup on 26 August 2015.

Tranmere Rovers (loan)

On 2 January 2014, Pennington joined League One side

on a one-month loan deal. He made his debut on 4 January 2014, playing ninety minutes in a 1–1 draw with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. On 25 January 2014, he scored his first senior goal in a 1–0 win over

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

. He was recalled by Everton on 22 February 2014 to strengthen their under-21 squad. On 27 March 2014, he re-joined Tranmere on loan until the end of the season.

Coventry City (loan)

On 27 November 2014, Pennington joined

on loan until 4 January, and this was subsequently extended to 7 February. In January 2015, he was voted as the club's Player of the Month in a poll conducted by the ''

Coventry Telegraph The ''Coventry Telegraph'' is a local English tabloid newspaper. It is published by Coventry Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Reach PLC Midlands Ltd, along with a number of other local publications. Publication history It was founded as ' ...

''. On 7 February 2015, his loan was extended to the end of the season, with Pennington from then on being played more consistently at his more natural centre-back position. Pennington was named as Coventry City Young Player of the Year 2014–15, voted for unanimously by Coventry City manager

Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English football manager and former footballer who was most recently the manager of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a d ...

and his coaching staff.

Walsall (loan)

On 23 March 2016, Pennington joined

on loan until the end of the season.

Return to Everton

On 21 April 2016, having played five games for Walsall, his loan was terminated at the minimum 28-day point due to a defensive crisis at his parent club. He was recalled to be available for Everton's FA Cup semi-final against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. After picking up a hamstring injury in the final day of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

2015–16 season on 15 May 2016 in a 3–0 victory against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, a recurrence of the injury in pre-season required surgery and ruled Pennington out until January 2017. After returning from injury, his first goal came on 1 April 2017, in the

Merseyside derby The Merseyside derby is an association football match between Everton F.C., Everton and Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, two clubs based in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is the longest running top-flight local derby, derby in England, with its fi ...

against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, levelling the game at 1–1, in an eventual 3–1 loss.

Leeds United (loan)

On 19 July 2017, Pennington joined

on a season-long loan, for a reported loan fee of £500,000. On 6 August 2017, Pennington made his Leeds United debut in a 3–2 victory against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. He picked up an ankle injury in the match and had to be replaced by fellow debutant Conor Shaughnessy in the second half. He was unavailable until the latter half of September, when he returned to the bench. In October, Pennington returned intermittently to the starting eleven. After 24 appearances, on 18 May 2018, Leeds announced Pennington would be returning to his parent club upon the expiry of his loan.

Return to Everton

He returned to Everton to play in the 2018–19 pre season under their new manager

Marco Silva Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a right-back. He is the manager of club Fulham F.C., Fulham. He played fo ...

, and on 11 May 2018 Pennington signed a new long-term contract at the club, keeping him there until the end of the 2021 season.

Ipswich Town (loan)

On 31 August 2018, Pennington joined

on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

on 29 September 2018; he was sent off in the match.

Hull City (loan)

On 8 August 2019, Pennington joined

on loan for the 2019–20 season. He made his first appearance for the club in the first round of the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

in a 3–0 win at Tranmere Rovers.

Shrewsbury Town (loan)

On 31 December 2020, Pennington joined League One side

on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season. On 24 April, he scored his first goal for the. club in the 53rd minute during a 1-0 win at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Shrewsbury Town

On 27 May 2021, Pennington signed for Shrewsbury Town on a permanent deal following his release from Everton.

Blackpool

After rejecting the offer of a new contract with Shrewsbury, Pennington agreed to join

on 1 July 2023.

Bradford City

On 25 June 2025, Pennington joined newly promoted League One side

on a two-year deal following the expiry of his contract with Blackpool.

International career

Pennington made his debut for England U19s on 21 March 2013, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute in a 1–0 win over

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at the Everton F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Matthew 1994 births Living people Footballers from Warrington English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Everton F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players 21st-century English sportsmen Bradford City A.F.C. players