Roma are back in the Champions League for the first time since 2018/19, and the paperwork behind the squad matters almost as much as the football. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side finished third in Serie A last season on 73 points, and the Giallorossi opened the league phase with a 1-1 draw away to Fenerbahçe on 10 September, Bryan Cristante scoring the goal.
Two questions follow: who made the squad, and whether Gasperini can add players later. Both answers sit inside UEFA’s registration rules.
The Two Lists Roma Must Hand UEFA
Roma register two squads, each with its own criteria. List A had to be submitted by the club and then verified and validated by the Italian federation by 23:59 CET on Wednesday 2 September 2026. It holds a maximum of 25 players, of whom at least two must be goalkeepers.
Eight of those places are reserved for “locally trained players”, and no more than four of the eight can go to “association-trained” players. In practice, at least four must be “club-trained” — products of Trigoria rather than Italian football at large. Fall short of the quota and the maximum List A size drops in line with the shortfall.
Roma met the requirement with Pierluigi Gollini, Giorgio De Marzi, Gianluca Mancini, Emanuele Lulli, Daniele Ghilardi, Bryan Cristante, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Niccolò Pisilli. Gasperini did not use all 25 slots either.
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“Club-trained” vs “association-trained” players
A club-trained player is one registered with the club for three entire seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21. An association-trained player has spent the same three seasons at one or more clubs affiliated to the same national association — in Roma’s case, the FIGC.
Take two 19-year-olds. One has three full seasons at Trigoria behind him, so he is club-trained. The other spent two years at Roma and a third elsewhere in Italy, so he is association-trained. Both count as locally trained, yet only one fills a club-trained place.
Champions League “List B”
List B comes with far more freedom: no cap on numbers, amendments throughout the season, and a deadline of 23:59 CET on the day before the match in question.
A player qualifies if he was born on or after 1 January 2005 and has, since his 15th birthday, been eligible to play for Roma for an uninterrupted period of two years, or for three consecutive years with a maximum of one season on loan at a club from the same association. Players aged 16 also qualify after two uninterrupted years at the club. One detail ties the documents together: Roma need at least three goalkeepers across Lists A and B combined.
When Can Roma Make Changes to List A?
For the eight league phase matches, List A is locked. Should the Giallorossi reach the knockout phase, the club can register a maximum of three new players by 23:59 CET on 4 February 2027.
A signing who featured for another club in the qualifying rounds, the play-offs or the league phase of any of the three European competitions is free to play for Roma from the knockout rounds onwards. The ceiling does not move: 25 players, eight of them locally trained.
How Injuries and Illness Affect Roma’s Squad
One further concession applies. Up to and including Matchday 6, Roma may replace a single outfield player sidelined for at least 60 days, provided the incoming player was registered with the club before the 2 September deadline. The quota must still be met after the swap, and the injured player stays ineligible until the 60 days elapse, even if he recovers sooner.
The Goalkeeper Exceptions
Goalkeepers get gentler treatment. If one is unavailable for at least 30 days, the club may register a replacement at any point in the season, before or after Matchday 6, and that replacement need not be locally trained. The same 30-day wait applies to the injured man.
If a goalkeeper leaves on a permanent transfer after Matchday 6 and before the league phase ends, Roma may register any replacement. Should they then reach the knockout phase, that signing counts as one of the three February registrations, and the quota returns. The simpler route is to keep spare goalkeepers on List B.
Takeaways
Roma’s squad is governed by two documents with different characters: a capped, deadline-driven List A and an open-ended List B built for youth. Beyond that, the room for manoeuvre is narrow. Injuries open one door before Matchday 6, three registrations arrive in February for clubs that reach the knockout phase, and goalkeepers sit in a category of their own. For Gasperini, the squad that beat the odds to get here is, for now, the squad he has.
