Barcelona name Champions League squad as Hamza Abdelkarim makes the cut

Barcelona have submitted a 25-player squad to UEFA for the league phase of the Champions League, with Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim included but Roony Bardghji left out after suffering a serious knee injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for the entire season.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona’s European squad also includes Belgian player Jesse Bisiou. Both Abdelkarim and Bisiou have been registered for the competition as members of the first-team squad, despite retaining their existing shirt numbers with Barcelona’s reserve side in La Liga.

Abdelkarim will continue to wear number 29 in the Spanish league, while Bisiou will wear number 27. The two players are registered with reserve-team contracts domestically, but Barcelona had to include them in the club’s List A squad for the Champions League to make them eligible to play.

Neither player meets the criteria required for inclusion on List B. Under the registration rules, a player must have spent two uninterrupted years in the club’s academy, or three consecutive years with no more than one season spent on loan at another club affiliated to the same national association, to qualify for that list.

The decision means Bardghji is the notable omission from Barcelona’s European plans. The Sweden international has been ruled out after sustaining a serious knee injury, and his absence is expected to last throughout the campaign.

Bardghji also had limited opportunities with Barcelona last season. His chances were restricted in part because he plays in the same position as team-mate Lamine Yamal, who enjoyed a highly influential campaign and established himself as one of the club’s leading attacking players.

Barcelona have also included midfielder Brian Farinas on the academy list. Unlike the 25-player List A submission, that list can be updated until 24 hours before the relevant match.

Farinas will therefore be available for Champions League selection as a List B player and will wear number 28 in the competition, alongside the other members of Barcelona’s academy setup.

His Champions League status differs from his domestic registration. Farinas already wears number four for Barcelona’s first team in La Liga, but the number assigned to him in Europe reflects the separate registration arrangements governing Lists A and B.

The contrasting decisions on Bardghji, Abdelkarim, Bisiou and Farinas underline the different rules Barcelona must follow when registering senior players, reserve-team players and academy graduates for the Champions League. While Abdelkarim and Bisiou require List A places because they have not fulfilled the academy-service conditions for List B, Farinas is eligible for the latter category.

Barcelona’s submitted squad will cover the league phase of this season’s Champions League, with the club’s final academy-list changes allowed up to one day before each match.