Mathys Tel is among six players who have been left out of Tottenham's Champions League squad for the first half of the 2025/26 season. The club had to submit their 25-man squad for the league phase to UEFA by 11pm on Tuesday, September 2, ahead of Spurs' return to Europe's top competition later this month. Tottenham has faced significant issues with their European squad in the past due to differing rules from those in the Premier League.
Spurs have struggled with a lack of club-trained players and having more than the required four association-trained players and the allotted 17 non-homegrown players. This has led to previous managers having to exclude players from a European squad. The situation has worsened this season, with a total of six players being dropped by Thomas Frank for the league phase. The players to miss out are: Radu Dragusin, Kota Takai, Yves Bissouma, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Mathys Tel.
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Unfortunately, Tottenham are not in a position where they can name a full 25-man squad for the Champions League due to not having all four positions filled when it comes to club-trained players.
Brandon Austin is the only player in that category and three gaps are left open as a result, thus leaving them in a predicament where they can only name a 22-man squad rather than the usual 25.
A fresh squad list can be submitted for the knockout round with a maximum of three changes for the remaining matches in the competition. In last season's Europa League, Djed Spence was added to the Tottenham squad for the knockout phase after being left out for the first part of the competition, with manager Ange Postecoglou unfortunately having to make cuts.
In this season's Champions League, Spurs will go head-to-head with Villarreal, Bodo/Glimt, AS Monaco, FC Copenhagen, PSG, Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.