How European football squad lists work: Rules, deadlines and exceptions

By Oliver Grant On Sep 3, 2026 13

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The Premier League transfer window has only just closed, but some teams immediately had another deadline to meet – registering their Champions League, Europa League or Conference League squads.

Clubs had to submit their senior team players to Uefa by 22:59 BST on Wednesday.

But squads are actually split into two separate lists – and there are a number of criteria that have to be met.

Here’s how it all works.

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What are the two lists?

Clubs must register a ‘List A’ and ‘List B’ squad.

List A

This is the list that had the Wednesday evening deadline.

List A contains a maximum of 25 players, with a minimum of eight ‘locally trained’ squad members. Of those eight, no more than four can be ‘association-trained’ instead of ‘club-trained’.

If the club doesn’t submit eight locally-trained players, their maximum squad number of 25 is reduced proportionally. For example, should they only register six locally-trained players, their squad maximum becomes 23 players.

There must be at least two goalkeepers registered in List A – and at least three in total across Lists A and B.

List B

The only deadline for this list is that it must be submitted to Uefa no later than 23:59 CET the day before a match.

There is also no upper limit to the number of players who can be on List B.

This list caters for more junior members of a club’s squad.

A player is eligible to be on List B if they:

were born on or after 1 January 2005
have been eligible to play for the club for two consecutive years since their 15th birthday
or have been eligible to play for the club for three consecutive years, including a loan spell within the same association, since their 15th birthday

Players aged 16 can also be on List B if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years uninterrupted.

Players who changed clubs after participating in any Uefa qualifying rounds or play-offs are permitted to play for their new side from the league phase onward.

What is the deadline for changes to List A?

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Image caption,

Manchester City added new signings Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo to their 2025-26 Champions League squad once the club reached the knockout stages

After the September deadline, List A squads are locked in for the league phases of European competitions.

However, should a club reach the knockout stages, they have until 23:59 CET on 4 February 2027 to register a maximum of three new players.

There is again no restrictions on players that have played for another club during any stage of any European competition up to that point – if they have changed clubs in the January transfer window, they can play for their new team from the knockout rounds onward.

The 25-player limit, and the eight locally-trained player minimum, remains in place.

In exceptional circumstances of injury or illness, some further amendments can be made to List A.

Up to and including matchday six of the league phase, a player who has been injured or ill for at least 60 days can be temporarily replaced by a player who was registered with the club before the List A deadline.

The locally-trained quota remains the same, and if the affected player recovers before the end of the tournament, they cannot return to the competition.

What counts as a locally-trained and association-trained player?

Uefa has two categories of ‘locally-trained’ players:

club-trained – registered with the same club for three years between the ages of 15 and 21
association-trained – registered with the same club, or another within the same association, for three years between the ages of 15 and 21

For example, a 20-year-old player could have been at Arsenal for three seasons, making them ‘club-trained’.

Another 20-year-old player could have done two years at Arsenal, followed by a year at another club within the Football Association (eg Chelsea), making them ‘association-trained’.

Both of the players count as locally-trained, but Uefa allows more club-trained players in the make-up of eight locally-trained players.

As previously mentioned, the eight locally-trained players in List A can’t feature more than four who are association-trained – so clubs must specify if they are club or association-trained when registering them.

The rules differ slightly to those in the Premier League on homegrown players, which led to the odd situation where Arsenal’s Noni Madueke is recognised as homegrown talent in the UK but not by Uefa.

What are the rules on goalkeepers?

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Bayern Munich came close to having to dip into their List B goalkeepers following injuries to four registered players in the 2025-26 Champions League

There are also a couple of special rules in place for goalkeepers.

They can be replaced after the List A deadline in two slightly different scenarios to their outfield counterparts.

The first differences come with injury replacement:

goalkeepers affected by long-term injury or illness can be replaced if they have been out of action for at least 30 days, instead of 60 days
they can be replaced at any time in the season instead of the matchday six limit
the goalkeeper replacing the injured or unwell players does not have to be locally-trained, regardless of if the affected player was

The other scenario for replacement occurs with transfers:

if a goalkeeper permanently leaves a club between the end of matchday six and the end of the league phase, a club is allowed to replace them
this replacement is again not required to be locally-trained – but only for the duration of the league phase
if a club progresses to the knockout stages, the replacement goalkeeper automatically fills one of the three new players that teams can register at this point, and locally-trained quotas will kick in again

Bayern Munich faced a goalkeeper injury crisis during the 2025-26 Champions League, but did not have to use the dedicated goalkeeper rules to draft in any replacements to List A as they had sufficient backup goalkeepers on List B.

How does this affect transfer windows?

The Premier League and EFL transfer windows shut the day before the Uefa squad deadline, meaning all new players were registered with the club and therefore eligible to also be registered for European compeitions.

However, not all leagues had closed their transfer windows before the Uefa deadline, which can lead to club dilemmas when attempting to register new signings.

Should Celtic or Hearts sign any more players on Thursday before the Scottish Premiership transfer window shuts at 17:00 BST, they will not be able to register them in their Uefa or Conference League squads respectively until the additional three-player rule becomes active in the knockout stages.