UEFA increase 'homegrown' requirements

UEFA has today announced that clubs in the Champions League and UEFA Cup will have to include up to eight ’homegrown’ players in their 25-man squads.

European football’s ruling body will also press ahead with plans for the measure to be adopted in domestic competitions – although that has yet to be agreed by the national associations.

The new rule for European competitions will be introduced from the 2006-07 season with clubs needing to include a minimum of four homegrown players in a squad. That number will be increased to six the following season and eight in 2008-09.

Of the eight, four will have had to be trained by the club’s own academy and a further four trained within the same national association.

UEFA define a club-trained player as one who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21.

Of the 32 sides in last season’s Champions League, five clubs would have not had enough homegrown players: Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers and Ajax.

The next step will see UEFA’s 52 member associations vote at the Congress in Tallinn, Estonia in April whether the same rule should apply to domestic competitions.

There has already been strong opposition voiced by the Premier League and the Italian federation.