Chelsea has announced their squad for the UEFA Champions League tournament this season. Chelsea returns to the tournament they won in 2012, which remains their only Champions League victory to date. The Blues were drawn in Group H and will play Ajax, Valencia, and Lille, with their first game set to take place on Tuesday, September 17 at home to Valencia.
Each club must name a maximum of 25 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. There is a minimum of eight places reserved exclusively for ‘locally trained players’. If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly.
Locally-trained players are club-trained players who were on the books between the ages of 15 and 21, or association-trained players who were on another club’s books in the same association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21.
The Blues failed to qualify for the Champions League last season after a poor premier league campaign which saw them finish 5th in the league.
Chelsea won the UEFA Europa League last season after beating Arsenal in the final hosted in Baku. Frank Lampard will be making his managerial debut in the Champions League with Chelsea this season.
The Chelsea squad
Goalkeepers: Kepa, Caballero, Cumming*.
Defenders: Azpilicueta, Emerson, James*, Alonso, Rudiger, Christensen, Zouma, Tomori, Guehi*.
Midfielders: Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Barkley, Gilmour*, McEachran*, Mount*, Loftus-Cheek.
Forwards: Willian, Pedro, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi*, Pulisic, Giroud, Batshuayi.
*B List
