Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen handed European lifeline as UEFA confirm major rule change
Scottish clubs could benefit from governing body announcement
Celtic, Rangers and Aberdeen have been handed a possible lifeline after UEFA announced a major change to squad rules for European competitions.
The Scottish trio will soon begin their respective league phase campaigns with Celtic and Rangers taking part in the Europa League, which starts on September 24-25, following their failure to qualify for the Champions League, while Aberdeen will compete in the Conference League, which gets underway in early October, after dropping down from the Europa League play-offs.
Clubs had to confirm 25-man squads following the closure of the summer transfer window, which saw some notable omissions.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers found no place for summer signings Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Hayato Inamura, Shin Yamada or Callum Osmand in his Europa League squad, while Rangers head coach Russell Martin left out Kieron Dowell, who featured in the Champions League qualifying wins over Panathinaikos and Viktoria Plzen, and Nedim Bajrami as well as injured duo Dujon Sterling and Rabbi Matondo.
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin sprung a surprise by ommitting on-loan Tottenham defender Alfie Dorrington along with fellow recent signings Kenan Bilalovic, Mitchel Frame and Kjartan Mar Kjartansson.
But, in a rule confirmed on Thursday, all clubs will this season be able to make a change to their submitted squads during the group phase.
UEFA said in a statement: "The Executive Committee approved an 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."
Matchday six will take Aberdeen up to the conclusion of their Conference League campaign in December but Celtic and Rangers have two additional fixtures with the Europa League schedule featuring eight matches which stretch into early 2026.
Celtic begin their Europa League quest away to Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday, September 24 with Rangers kicking off their campaign at home to Genk the following night. Aberdeen's opening Conference League fixture is at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday, October 2.
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