The clock is ticking for Europe’s elite, UEFA has confirmed when your club must lock in its Champions League squad, and the homegrown rule could still catch a few big names out.

UEFA has confirmed that Wednesday, September 2, 2026, at 23:59 CET is the hard deadline for clubs to submit their List A squads for the 2026/27 Champions League league phase, with all lists to be verified and validated by their national associations.

The basics haven’t changed, clubs are entitled to register a maximum of 25 players on List A during the season, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers.

But here’s where it gets interesting. 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.

If you don’t have eight? Your squad gets cut. UEFA says clubs with fewer than eight locally trained players will have their maximum List A size reduced accordingly.

It’s a two-tier system UEFA has been pushing for almost 20 years to encourage the local training of young players and to try to re-establish a ‘local’ identity.

Clubs in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League must have a minimum of eight homegrown players in their squads. From 2008/09, clubs required a minimum of eight homegrown players in a squad limited to 25.

Club trained Players registered with the club for three entire seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21.

Association-trained Players who spent the same period registered with a club or clubs affiliated to the same national association.

The rule was first introduced in 2005. The initial requirement was four locally trained players, but this was escalated each year up to the 2008/09 season, where a minimum of eight locally trained players was required within each squad of 25.

This is the lifeline for academies. Clubs can register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season.

UEFA says 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.

To qualify, a player must have been born on or after January 1, 2005, and have 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 at a club from the same association. Even 16-year-olds can qualify if they’ve been registered for the previous two years without interruption.

A player who has been fielded in the first, second or third qualifying round, or in the play-offs of the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League, is entitled to play in the Champions League for another club as from the league phase. That’s great news for January signings.

And for clubs who make it through? UEFA will allow a maximum of three new players to be registered by 23:59 CET on February 4, 2027, for the knockout phase. The overall 25-player limit remains, along with the eight homegrown quota.

UEFA has also built in some wiggle room. During the league phase, up to and including Matchday 6, a club may temporarily replace a maximum of one outfield player suffering from a long-term injury or illness lasting at least 60 days, provided the replacement was already registered with the club before the September 2 deadline.

Goalkeepers get special treatment, a goalkeeper with a long-term injury lasting at least 30 days can be replaced at any point. And after Matchday 6, a keeper who leaves on a permanent transfer can also be replaced.

The new-look 36-team league phase will begin between September 8 and 10 and will end on January 27 with a unified final matchday. The road ends at Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano, which has been selected as the host for the 2026/27 final on Saturday, 5 June 2027.

It will be the second time Atletico Madrid’s home has hosted the final after Liverpool vs Tottenham in 2019.

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