With European club competitions in full swing, clubs across the continent have had to navigate a detailed set of squad registration rules set out by UEFA, governing exactly who can feature in the Champions League, Europa League and other continental tournaments.
At the heart of the system are two separate squad lists, known as List A and List B, each with its own requirements and deadlines.
List A is the primary squad list and comes with a firm deadline, which fell on Wednesday evening this season. Clubs are permitted to name a maximum of 25 players on this list, but there is a crucial condition attached: a minimum of eight players must be 'locally trained'. Within that group of eight, no more than four can qualify through being trained by the relevant national association rather than the club itself.
Failure to meet the locally-trained quota results in a reduction of the overall squad size. For instance, a club that only manages to register six locally-trained players would see its List A capacity cut from 25 down to 23, a proportional penalty designed to encourage investment in homegrown talent.
Goalkeeper numbers are also strictly regulated. Every club must have at least two specialist goalkeepers named on List A, while across both List A and List B combined, a minimum of three goalkeepers must be registered in total.
List B operates very differently and is aimed squarely at younger, developing players. Unlike List A, there is no cap on the number of names a club can include, and the only deadline is that submissions must reach UEFA by 23:59 CET on the eve of any given match.
Eligibility for List B is tightly defined. Players must have been born on or after 1 January 2005, and must satisfy one of several development pathway conditions: either having been eligible to play for the club for two consecutive years since turning 15, or for three consecutive years since that age if a loan move within the same national association is included. Additionally, 16-year-olds can qualify for List B provided they have been continuously registered with the club for the previous two years.
The rules also address player movement during the competition. Any player who switches clubs after taking part in qualifying rounds or play-offs becomes eligible to represent their new side once the league phase begins.
Once the September deadline passes, List A squads are effectively frozen for the duration of the league phase. However, UEFA does allow for some flexibility further down the line. Should a club progress to the knockout stages, it will have the opportunity to register up to three additional players by 23:59 CET on 4 February 2027. Notably, there are no restrictions preventing players who featured for other clubs earlier in the competition from being included in this update, meaning a January transfer window arrival could feature for their new club from the knockout rounds onward. Even with this amendment, the overall 25-player ceiling and the eight-player locally-trained minimum remain firmly in place.
UEFA has also built in provisions for injury or illness. Up to and including matchday six of the league phase, a club can temporarily replace a player who has been sidelined through injury or illness for at least 60 days, provided the replacement was already registered with the club before the original List A deadline. The locally-trained quota is unaffected by this change, and any player who recovers before the tournament concludes is barred from returning to the competition.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.