UEFA has approved a new rule for their European club competitions (Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League) that could have benefitted teams like Manchester City and Real Madrid last season, as they suffered long-term injuries (Rodri and Carvajal) very early in the seasons.
During the meeting on Tirana (Albania) on Thursday, where UEFA also approved Madrid as the host city for 2027 Champions League final, UEFA announced a last minute amendment to the 2025/26 UEFA men's club competitions' regulations: "to admit the temporary replacement of a maximum of one outfield player with long-term injury or illness during the league phase until matchday 6 included.
"The reasoning for the adaptation is to ensure that squad lists are not unfairly reduced and players are safeguarded from additional workload pressure", the Executive Committee said.
Previously, clubs were only allowed to make changes in the squad lists in the period between the league phase (September-January) and the knockout stages (January-May). Now, they will allow for one player to be replaced at least until Matchday 6 (meaning the remainder of the natural year, 2026).
That means that if a player gets a long injury, the club will be allowed to remove the injured player from the UEFA squad list and add another to compensate for the loss. This year, it could already help Chelsea, after Liam Delap suffered a hamstring injury during the 2-0 victory over Fulham.