Can Arsenal play Max Dowman in the Champions League? | OneFootball

Max Dowman has been included in Arsenal’s Champions League squad for the 2025/26 campaign, making him eligible to play in the competition’s League Phase.

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Max Dowman made his Premier League debut for Arsenal last month, but there’s been a question mark around his potential eligibility to feature for the Gunners in the Champions League.

Most Arsenal youth players will be named on the unlimited “List B” for the Champions League, for which you are eligible if you’ve spent two years at your club and you’re born on or after January 1st, 2004. But you also have to be 16 years old to qualify, and Dowman is just 15.

Yet there’s no such restriction on the senior squad list, and Arsenal have thus included Dowman in their official squad this afternoon.

Photo via Arsenal.com

Despite being with Arsenal’s academy for a decade now, Dowman doesn’t yet qualify as homegrown, as you can only gain homegrown status for UEFA competitions by playing for a club in the relevant association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21.

That’s the reason why Noni Madueke is homegrown by Premier League standards, but not by UEFA standards. He did spend three years with an FA club prior to his move abroad at 16 (fulfilling the PL requirements), but that exit at 16 meant he didn’t spend a full three years here between 15 and 21.

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Fortunately, Arsenal had space for another non-homegrown senior player. Following the deadline-day flurry of exits, Arsenal had 22 senior players who need to be named on the Champions League senior squad list (from a maximum of 25), 15 of whom are non-homegrown (from a maximum of 17).

That left two spaces, which was perfect for Arsenal, as both Tommy Setford and Dowman needed those spots.

Setford hasn’t spent two years with Arsenal yet, so he’s not eligible for List B, and Dowman is too young for List B right now. But as they’ve been named on the senior list, they can play in Arsenal’s League Phase fixtures.

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None of this will be an issue for Dowman in 2026, as he’ll turn 16 on December 31st, 2025. At that point he can be named on List B for the remainder of this season and also for the following five seasons.

Until then, Arsenal have just the right number of players in the squad to include Dowman anyway.