Barcelona announce 25-man Champions League squad for 2026-27 season
Now, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Catalans have also submitted their squad list for the upcoming UCL campaign to UEFA, naming 25 first-team players on this list. The most notable additions to the list are the youngsters Hamza Abdelkarim and Jesse Bisiwu, while the most notable absence is Roony Bardghji.
The Swede has not been named in the list because he is expected to remain out of action for almost the entire season after suffering a serious injury during the preseason. Even before this injury, he was expected to leave the club in the recently-closed summer transfer window, and thus his absence is not expected to worry Hansi Flick too much.
On the other hand, Abdelkarim and Bisiwu both have been named in the A-list for the UCL, with numbers 29 and 27 respectively, because, to be eligible for the B-team, they had to have been at the Blaugrana academy for two uninterrupted years, or for three years in total if they had spent some time away on loan.
In contrast to these two players, Brian Farinas has been named in the B-team, as he met these conditions, even though he has a first-team number, number 4, for this season in La Liga. Thus, he would be available to play for Barcelona in the UCL with the number 28. However, this B-list can be updated 24 hours before any UCL match, and thus, other youth academy players can also get the chance to play in the top European competition.
