Can players signed in January transfer window play in the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 knockouts?

Can players signed in January transfer window play in the UEFA Champions League 2024-25 knockouts?

Europe’s top teams are set to play in the final matchday of UEFA Champions League 2024-25 league stage, with many sides vying for survival in the continental tournament on Wednesday.

However, they will be without their January transfer window acquisitions for this final league stage match.

According to the UEFA rules, teams participating in the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Conference League, can register a maximum of three new players after the end of the league stage and before the start of the knockouts. This means newly signed players in January can play from the knockout stages.

For clubs playing in domestic competitions which start and end in the same calendar year, the footballing body has in place separate regulations for those teams, which can register additional players in certain cases.

Earlier, a player wouldn’t be allowed to play in the competition if he’d played in the same tournament for his former side. But since 2018-19, this rule has been done away with.

Clubs have till February 6, 24:00 CET, to register their new players and wait for UEFA to approve the changes.

This is why Manchester City, facing Club Brugge in a must-win match, doesn’t have the likes Abdukodir Khusanov or Omar Marmoush in the matchday squad.