Can Chemsdine Talbi still play in Europa League? Sunderland squad omission and List B rules explained
Sunderland have named only 22 players for the Europa League, with winger Chemsdine Talbi missing out
Chemsdine Talbi is the biggest talking point from Sunderland’s Europa League squad, but why has he been left out, and can Régis Le Bris add him later?
Why has Talbi been left out, and can he be included on B List?
Talbi is young enough to qualify for UEFA’s List B by age, but there is another requirement. A player born on or after January 1, 2005 must also have been eligible to play for his current club for an uninterrupted period of two years since turning 15.
Talbi, born in May 2005, only joined Sunderland from Club Brugge in July 2025. He has not been at the club long enough and cannot simply be added to List B before individual Europa League games. That makes his omission a genuine selection call. Talbi needed one of Sunderland’s List A places to feature during the league phase and will now be unavailable for those eight games.
Why have Sunderland named only 22 players?
UEFA allows 25 players on List A, but eight positions are reserved for locally-trained players. At least four effectively need to be club-trained, with no more than four association-trained players counting towards that quota. Sunderland do not have enough qualifying players to use all 25 places. The club have named Chris Rigg as club-trained, while Simon Moore, Dan Ballard, Luke O’Nien and Romaine Mundle qualify as association-trained.
That leaves Sunderland with five locally-trained players rather than the required eight, reducing their maximum List A allocation from 25 to 22. Those three unused places cannot be handed to overseas-trained players such as Talbi. Mundle’s status is useful. The winger developed within the English system and therefore counts as association-trained. His quality already makes him an obvious first-team option, but his homegrown status gives Sunderland flexibility when constructing the UEFA squad and helps explain his value within the 22.
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.
Can Talbi be registered later?
Yes, but not during the league phase under the normal registration process. If Sunderland reach the knockout rounds, UEFA allows clubs to register up to three new eligible List A players after the league phase. Those changes must be made by February 4, 2027, with the locally-trained quotas still respected. Talbi could therefore be added for the knockouts, although Sunderland would need to structure their revised squad accordingly.
Your next Sunderland AFC read: 9 in, 29 out and 18 new contracts - Sunderland's summer business in full under Florent Ghisolfi