UEFA has set September 2 as the deadline for clubs to submit their List A squads for the 2026/27 Champions League league phase, with clubs allowed to register a maximum of 25 players.
According to UEFA on its website on Monday, List A must be submitted by clubs and subsequently verified and validated by their respective associations by 23:59 CET on Wednesday, September 2, 2026.
The governing body said clubs must comply with the squad-size limit and locally trained-player quota when submitting their lists for the competition.
“Clubs are entitled to register a maximum of 25 players on List A during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers.
“As a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for ‘locally trained players’ and no club may have more than four ‘association-trained players’ listed among those eight places,” UEFA said.
UEFA added that clubs with fewer than eight locally trained players would have their maximum List A squad size reduced accordingly.
The governing body defines locally trained players in two categories: “club-trained players who have been registered with a club for three entire seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21; and association-trained players who have spent the same period registered with a club or clubs affiliated to the same national association.”
Clubs will also be able to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season, subject to UEFA’s eligibility requirements.
“List B can be amended throughout the season and must be submitted no later than 23:59 CET on the day before the match in question,” UEFA said.
A player can be included on List B if he was born on or after January 1, 2005, and has been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday, or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum one-year loan spell at a club from the same association.
UEFA said 16-year-old players could also qualify for List B if they had been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption.
The rules also allow players who have appeared for another club during the qualifying rounds of UEFA’s three men’s club competitions to feature for a different club in the Champions League from the league phase.
“A player who has been fielded in the first, second or third qualifying round, or in the play-offs of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League, is entitled to play in the UEFA Champions League for another club as from the league phase,” UEFA said.
Clubs that advance to the knockout phase will have an opportunity to make further changes to their squads.
