Home-grown player
A home-grown player is a footballer who has been trained in the youth system of a club or of a country's clubs. The competition requires clubs to include a number of home-grown players in their registered squads.
Why it matters
It matters because it protects development. By requiring places for home-grown players, the rule encourages clubs to invest in youth and gives locally trained footballers a route into the European squad.
Where it is used
It is used in squad registration. A club's list must contain a set number of home-grown players, and those places count towards the total, so the rule shapes how a squad is built for the competition.
How to read it
Read the home-grown rule as an investment in the future. It is not a limit on quality but a requirement of development, and it ties a club's European squad to the youth system that produced its players.
What it means
a player trained in a club's own or national youth system
Home-grown player is one of the working terms of the competition. This entry explains it as a mechanism that holds true from season to season, so it can be read on its own or alongside the other entries in the glossary of the tournament.
- A player trained in a club or national youth system.
- Clubs must register a set number.
- The rule encourages youth development.
- It shapes how a squad is built.
- Part of the registration requirements.
- An investment in the future of the game.