Liverpool omits Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo from Champions League squad

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has left Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo out of the club’s Champions League squad for the league phase, a decision that says less about the players’ quality and more about the unforgiving arithmetic of UEFA’s registration rules.

The club submitted a 22-player List A squad on September 3, 2025, with teenage winger Rio Ngumoha earning inclusion ahead of Chiesa. For a forward who scored in Liverpool’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth, watching European nights from the sidelines is a particularly bitter pill.

Why UEFA’s rules forced Slot’s hand

UEFA’s Champions League squad regulations allow clubs to register a maximum of 25 players on their List A squad. Of those 25 spots, eight are reserved exclusively for homegrown players, meaning athletes who spent at least three years at the club or within the same national association between the ages of 15 and 21.

That leaves just 17 slots for non-homegrown players. Chiesa, the Italian international who arrived with a reputation built at Juventus and with Italy’s national team, falls squarely into the non-homegrown category. So does Endo, the Japanese midfielder who signed from Stuttgart in 2023. When you have more than 17 foreign players worthy of Champions League football, someone has to miss out.

Slot chose to prioritize Ngumoha, a young talent developed within Liverpool’s academy system, whose homegrown status actually helps the squad’s overall composition. By selecting a homegrown player, Slot avoided using one of those precious 17 non-homegrown slots, giving himself more flexibility elsewhere in the squad.

Chiesa’s case is especially painful

What makes Chiesa’s exclusion sting is timing. The forward had just put the ball in the net on the opening day of the Premier League season against Bournemouth. He was fit, he was contributing, and he was rewarded with a seat in the European competition’s equivalent of the nosebleed section.

The Italian is still eligible for Premier League and domestic cup competitions, so this isn’t a complete exile. But for a player of his caliber, missing Champions League football is a significant blow to both his season rhythm and his standing within the squad hierarchy.

Endo’s situation adds another layer

Endo’s omission carries a different context. The research indicates Endo was in fact included in the squad registration, but he later suffered a long-term injury after the early league-phase registration window closed. Under UEFA’s registration rules, once that window closes, clubs cannot add replacement players, meaning Liverpool were left unable to bring in a substitute for the injured Endo.

This rigidity is by design. UEFA wants clubs to commit to their squads early and live with the consequences, preventing teams from constantly reshuffling their European rosters based on form or fitness.

What this means for Liverpool’s European campaign

Slot’s squad selection reveals a manager thinking several moves ahead. By choosing Ngumoha over Chiesa, he optimized his squad composition under UEFA’s constraints rather than simply picking his best 22 players regardless of registration status.

The bigger picture is that Liverpool’s squad is simply too large and too talented for UEFA’s registration framework to accommodate everyone comfortably. Being too good for the bench but not quite essential enough for 17 spots is a uniquely modern football problem, one that UEFA’s homegrown rules were designed to create.

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