Top players dropped from their team’s Champions League squads

As clubs registered their squads for the 2025/2026 Champions League season, some players began to see how unimportant they probably are to their team.

This season’s competition will be as tough and unpredictable as any campaign in the competition has ever been.

There are several clubs that have a point to prove on the continental stage, and we expect some underdogs to also deliver exciting performances in the games.

There is no other club competition in the world that excites as much as the Champions League, but it is never easy for players to get game time in it.

Football managers often want to work with small squads, but clubs typically sign new players every summer, and they struggle to offload the old stars.

This often leaves them with a bloated squad, and when the time comes to register stars for the Champions League, they are forced to cut out some key players.

Teams would love to have the chance to field all the members of their squad, but there are criteria every squad submission must follow.

UEFA Champions League squad criteria

UEFA mandates every club with Champions League tickets to submit two lists of players, with the A-list being their main squad.

This list contains 25 players, but eight of those stars must be homegrown, so there is space for 17 stars who are not homegrown.

The eight home-grown players are further broken down to four club-trained stars and four association-trained stars.

Players who have been at the club for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 qualify to be club-trained players.

To be an association-trained player, an individual must have played for at least three years for a club in the same country as their present team between the ages of 15 and 21.

On the B-list, any player born after January 1, 2004, can feature and must be registered by 23:00 BST on the day before each game.

This tight regulation means clubs often find themselves with too many players to register on the A-list after the transfer window has closed.

It leaves them with no choice but to cut out some key players from the list, and there have been some big-name omissions this season, which we cover in this article.

Facundo Buonanotte, Chelsea

Buonanotte joined Chelsea on loan from Brighton on deadline day, and the former Leicester City loanee was delighted and claimed he wanted to play Champions League football.

Hours later, he was left out of the Blues’ squad for the competition, and he will now hope he will be added to it in January if Chelsea reaches the knockout stages.

Raheem Sterling, Chelsea

Despite his underwhelming loan spell at Arsenal last season, Chelsea hoped they could offload Raheem Sterling in this transfer window.

However, he is still around and has two more seasons left in his big-money contract, but he has been left out of their Champions League squad, unsurprisingly.

Yves Bissouma, Tottenham

Bissouma has been one of the key players at Tottenham for years now, and he was on their team at the Europa League final just months back.

However, having been dropped from the Super League squad for coming late, it is not a surprise that Thomas Frank has axed him from his Champions League squad.

James Maddison, Tottenham

Maddison is one of the players who sold several Tottenham tickets when he joined the club, and he is a very talented player.

However, injuries have disrupted his time at the club, and he will now miss the league phase of the Champions League this season.

Federico Chiesa, Liverpool

For much of the summer transfer window, Fabrizio Romano and other reliable sources reported that Federico Chiesa wanted to leave Liverpool.

On matchday one, he stepped onto the pitch as a substitute and scored the winning goal against Bournemouth, and the attacker decided to stay at the club.

However, he was shocked when he was omitted from the Liverpool Champions League squad because there was not enough space for him.

It will make him rethink his career at the club, but he would no doubt get minutes in other competitions.

Gabriel Jesus, Arsenal

Jesus is another surprise exclusion from the Champions League squads, which is probably not because he does not belong to Mikel Arteta’s dream squad at the Emirates.

The attacker has been injured since the start of 2025, and Arsenal did not think it made sense to register him when there is no guarantee he would return to full fitness before the league phase ends.

If he returns and is in great shape for the rest of the season, they can simply add him to their squad for the knockout phase of the competition.

Presnel Kimpembe, PSG

There was a time when Kimpembe was one of the world’s best defenders, and it seemed he and Marquinhos would win PSG the Champions League.

However, when the Ligue 1 side finally won the league crown last term, he was considered one of the unwanted players in Paris.

This is because serious injuries have affected him in the last few seasons, and the defender is not getting any younger.

For no club to consider signing him in the last transfer window it shows his influence is truly declining.

PSG has some of the most talented players in the world in different spots, so they will not miss Kimpembe.

Romelu Lukaku, Napoli

Lukaku is set to miss the Champions League’s league phase after Napoli did not register him, and it is because of an injury.

His early-season setback forced Napoli to complete a move for Rasmus Hojlund from Manchester United, but they will still miss the Belgian, whose goals helped them to win the Scudetto last season.

He is the type of striker Antonio Conte likes, but they will hope that Hojlund can get the job done and fire them to success in Europe.

Dejan Kuluseski, Tottenham

Only a few clubs have the type of rotten luck that Tottenham has in terms of injuries, and Kulusevski will miss the league phase of the Champions League for them.

The Swede is one of the players opponents worry a lot about when he is on the pitch, but he will miss the games because he is seriously injured.

Poor fitness is a problem for the former Juventus man, but if he returns to fitness in the knockout phase, he could prove to be an important player.