Barcelona's Champions League Squad Updates: Abdelkarim and Bisiu Included

Barcelona have locked in their 25-man squad for the Champions League league phase, and the list carries a couple of notable twists beneath the headline names.

The club have registered only players on first-team contracts in their List A submission to UEFA, with Mundo Deportivo reporting that Egyptian defender Hamza Abdelkarim and Belgian youngster Jesse Bisiu both make the cut. The pair step up from the reserve setup and into Europe’s elite competition, at least on paper.

One big name is missing. Roony Bardghji, the Swedish forward once tipped as a breakout option, has been left out. A serious knee injury has ended his season before it really began, closing the door on any European involvement. He had already found minutes hard to come by last year, squeezed out on the right by the rise of Lamine Yamal, whose form has turned that flank into one of the most fiercely contested spots in the squad.

Abdelkarim and Bisiu will keep the shirt numbers they wear in La Liga, 29 and 27 respectively. Domestically, they remain registered on reserve-team contracts. To get them into the Champions League, though, Barcelona had to promote them formally into List A as first-team players.

UEFA’s rules left the club with no alternative. Neither Abdelkarim nor Bisiu qualifies for List B, which is reserved for younger players who have spent at least two consecutive years in the club’s academy, or three consecutive years including a short loan spell within the same federation. Without that continuity, the only route into Europe is through the senior list.

Brian Fariñas sits on the other side of that divide. The midfielder has been named on Barcelona’s List B, the academy list that can be updated up to 24 hours before each match. He will wear number 28 in the Champions League, grouped with the rest of the youth products eligible under UEFA’s homegrown criteria.

The curious detail: in La Liga, Fariñas already runs out with number 4 on his back as a first-team player. In Europe, he drops into a different category, a reminder that Champions League registration is its own game, with its own rules and its own winners and losers.