There’s no place for Federico Chiesa in Liverpool’s 2025-26 UEFA Champions League squad, but teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha has made the cut.
Ngumoha has been one of the most talked about Liverpool players of the summer. The 16-year-old winger impressed in preseason and then announced himself to the world when he scored a stoppage-time winner at Newcastle United on his Premier League debut.
In the process, Ngumoha became the youngest goalscorer in club history, and now he’ll get a chance to become the Reds’ youngest player ever to feature for the club in Champions League.
Clubs are allowed to name a maximum of 25 players in their Champions League squad, providing they are able to meet UEFA’s quota of eight homegrown or ‘locally trained’ players. If they aren’t able to hit that figure, their squad size is reduced accordingly.
Liverpool, who added Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké to their ranks among others, were only able to select 22 A-list players, leaving Chiesa on the sidelines.
Clubs can include an unlimited amount of players on their B list, but they must be under 21-years-old and have been with the club for an uninterrupted period of three years between the ages 15 and 21. Alternatively, they can also be included on List B if they spent the same amount of time with another club from the same country, also with those same age stipulations.
Ngumoha can’t be included on List B because he only joined Liverpool from Chelsea last September and, at 16-years-old, he doesn’t meet the three-year time frame. If Slot wanted to use the youngster in the Champions League, he had to be registered as one of the 17 non-homegrown players on List A.
Chiesa has been the player sacrificed to give Ngumoha a spot in Liverpool’s squad. The Italian, who scored the winning goal against Bournemouth on the opening day of the season, won’t be able to feature in the Champions League league phase.
The Reds will be hoping to replicate their success of a season ago when they topped the inaugural Champions League league phase table. With premier matchups against finalists Inter Milan and the return to Anfield of Trent Alexander-Arnold with Real Madrid, the league phase journey of the Premier League champions should deliver fireworks.
Liverpool’s Champions League Squad: List A
- Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker, Giorgi Mamardashvili, Freddie Woodman
- Defenders: Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Milos Kerkez, Conor Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Andrew Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Wataru Endo
- Midfielders: Florian Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch
- Forwards: Alexander Isak, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Hugo Ekitiké, Rio Ngumoha
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Liverpool Hero Left Out of Champions League Squad As Rio Ngumoha Included.
