Elite clubs are lobbying Uefa to expand the size of Champions League squads to 28, arguing it would reduce the risk of injuries. The calls have come at the highest level of the European game and prompted fears that it would deepen the hoarding of top talent.
At a meeting of Uefa’s club competitions committee (CCC) last month, clubs argued that the cap of 25 players should be increased. It is not a view shared by all 16 clubs represented on the CCC, with some strongly against expansion.
No decision was taken or action proposed as a result of the discussion, but the topic was not dismissed and is likely to be raised again. The issue was also raised at Uefa’s national team competitions committee, it is understood, with coaches split on whether a move to bigger squads would be a good idea.
The case made by the biggest clubs is that expanded squads would help coaches reduce overwork and make top games more competitive, with better options from the bench meaning no drop in quality in the later stages.
Critics believe a small shift in squad numbers could have outsize effects on the competitiveness of European football. They argue that there is a limited pool of elite talent and that expanded squads would bring a further concentration of the best players – those fans want to pay to see – at the top of the game.
The debate comes as European football’s powerbrokers struggle to promote financial growth while holding together the fragile framework of club football. Europe’s smaller domestic leagues, who fear continuing decline as media revenue becomes concentrated in the Premier League and Champions League, believe shifts in squad size would probably accelerate that as more of their top talents are lured away.
The chief executive of European Football Clubs, Charlie Marshall, told the Financial Times Business of Football summit last week that although the football pyramid must be protected through financial redistribution, the needs of the biggest clubs should drive the game. “The layers of a pyramid need to be close to each other,” he said, “[but] there is a pyramid and there is therefore a hierarchy.”
