Brazilian former football player Kaka holds up the slip of Newcastle United during the draw ceremony for the group stage of the 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League football tournament, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on August 28, 2025. (Photo by Frederic DIDES / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC DIDES/AFP via Getty Images)placeholder image
Brazilian former football player Kaka holds up the slip of Newcastle United during the draw ceremony for the group stage of the 2025-2026 UEFA Champions League football tournament, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on August 28, 2025. (Photo by Frederic DIDES / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC DIDES/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
Newcastle United have confirmed their 2025/26 Champions League squad.
Newcastle United’s Champions League campaign will get underway later this month with Barcelona set to arrive at St James’ Park on September 18 (8pm kick-off).
It’s Newcastle’s second time in the Champions League in three seasons and fourth time overall as they prepare to contend with the new league phase.
The Magpies will face eight different opponents between September and January in a bid to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition for the first time.
In addition to Barcelona, Newcastle will face Union Saint-Gilloise (A), Benfica (H), Athletic Club (H), Marseille (A), Bayer Leverkusen (A), PSV Eindhoven (H) and Paris Saint-Germain (A) in the group phase matches.
With two more fixtures than last time, Eddie Howe has had to select his squad carefully. The Magpies’ previous Champions League campaign saw the squad ravaged with injuries which resulted in academy players being named on the bench and 17-year-old Lewis Miley becoming a regular starter.
Newcastle have since offloaded three club-trained players in Paul Dummett, Elliot Anderson and Sean Longstaff without any more emerging. As a result, UEFA rules have limited Newcastle’s squad to just 21 senior players opposed to the maximum of 25.
Miley is a club-trained player but does not need to be named on the ‘List A’ squad due to his age and will instead be named in the ‘List B’ squad alongside Lewis Hall and other eligible young players. Any player named in List A or List B is eligible to feature in Champions League matches.
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Newcastle United’s Champions League squad confirmed
Goalkeepers
Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale
Kieran Trippier, Tino Livramento, Emil Krafth, Dan Burn, Malick Thiaw, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman
Midfielders
Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Jacob Ramsey, Joe Willock, Jacob Murphy, Anthony Elanga, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon
Yoane Wissa, Nick Woltemade, William Osula
NUFC set to exploit UEFA loophole
Jamaal Lascelles, John Ruddy, Mark Gillespie and Harrison Ashby are the four senior players to miss out of Newcastle’s Champions League squad.
The omission of two goalkeepers and naming only Nick Pope and Aaron Ramsdale in the squad will see Newcastle exploit a loophole of sorts in UEFA’s rules.
UEFA squad rules require clubs to name at least three goalkeepers in their Champions League squad. With no Ruddy or Gillespie, Newcastle have only named two.
But Howe’s side will bolster their squad and technically comply with the rules by naming an Under-21s goalkeeper on their ‘List B’. That goalkeeper will likely be 20-year-old Max Thompson, who has remained at the club this summer after loan spells at Northampton Town and Chesterfield in each of the past two seasons.
Thompson also represented Newcastle’s first team in pre-season. Although he Newcastle’s fifth choice goalkeeper as far as the Premier League is concerned, he is set to be bumped up to third choice in the Champions League.
Naming only two goalkeepers in their ‘List A’ squad has allowed Newcastle to name an additional outfield player. Had Ruddy or Gillespie been named in the 21-man list, another outfield player would have had to miss out.
It’s a calculated risk that has been taken by Newcastle as it’s seen as more beneficial to have more senior outfield options than a senior third-choice goalkeeper.
And Thompson has had more senior football experience than Ruddy or Gillespie over the past year, having made 21 appearances for Chesterfield last season.
Newcastle and Chelsea are the only Premier League sides to exploit the goalkeeper rule. Manchester City have named four goalkeepers in their ‘List A’ with James Trafford ‘club-trained’ while Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have named three.
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