AZ, Hapoel Beer Sheva and the 25-man UEFA list that shapes both squads

Key takeaways

• AZ and Hapoel Beer Sheva are paired in the Europa League, according to Dutch-language search activity recorded by Google in the Netherlands.
• UEFA competitions use their own squad registration system, which runs alongside domestic league registration rather than replacing it.
• A club's main European list, known as List A, is capped at 25 players and must include a minimum number of locally trained players.
• Younger players who meet UEFA's club-training conditions can be added on a separate List B without counting against the 25-player cap.
• Summer signings can only play in European matches if the club has placed them on its UEFA list before the relevant deadline.

What is happening between AZ and Hapoel Beer Sheva?

Search activity collected by Google in the Netherlands shows Dutch readers looking up a Europa League meeting between AZ, the club from Alkmaar, and Hapoel Beer Sheva of Israel. The same signal includes "AZ vandaag", a general search for daily club news, and the name of Wesley Hoedt, a Dutch centre-back. The source material does not say how Hoedt is connected to the fixture or what his contractual position is. This article makes no assumption about it.

This article does not cover the result, the line-ups or any team news. None of that information is available here. The fixture is used as a working example of something that stays the same whatever happens on the pitch: the administrative framework a club must go through before any player can appear in a UEFA competition.

Why is this fixture drawing attention now?

European nights draw attention to a club's squad in a way that domestic weekends do not. Supporters searching for AZ in the Netherlands are likely to be asking practical questions. They want to know who is eligible, who arrived over the summer and whether the squad that plays in the Eredivisie is the same one that plays in Europe. Hoedt's name appearing in the same set of searches fits that pattern: readers tend to connect European fixtures with players and squad questions.

It is worth explaining why this matters. Eligibility for a UEFA match is not automatic. A player can be fully registered with the Dutch or Israeli football authorities and still be unable to take part in a Europa League match. That happens if the club has not included him on the list it submits to UEFA.

How does UEFA squad registration work?

Clubs taking part in UEFA club competitions submit squad lists to the governing body. The main one is List A, which has a ceiling of 25 players. Within that 25, UEFA requires a set number of places to be filled by locally trained players. These fall into two groups. Some are trained by the club itself. Others are trained by any club in the same national association. The trained period is measured during a defined age window in a player's youth, not by nationality. This is a common source of confusion: a foreign player who came through a Dutch academy can count as locally trained for a Dutch club, while a national-team player who left for an academy abroad as a teenager may not.

If a club does not have enough locally trained players, it does not get to use foreign players in their place. Instead, it has to submit a shorter List A, leaving the reserved slots empty. This is why squad planners treat home-grown status as a scarce resource with real value, sometimes separate from a player's ability.

List B sits beside List A. It is for younger players who meet UEFA's age and club-tenure conditions, and it has no fixed numerical limit. This gives clubs with productive academies a route to cover European fixtures without using up List A places.

The Europa League now opens with a single league phase rather than groups. Each club plays eight matches against eight different opponents. The table then decides who goes straight into the round of 16, who goes into a knockout play-off and who is eliminated. Clubs register their squads for the league phase after the summer window. They then have a limited chance to change their lists before the knockout rounds.

Who is affected, and in what way?

The players are affected first. A player left off List A can train, play domestically and draw his salary, but he cannot take part in European matches until the list is reopened. For a newly signed player, that can mean several months without European football if the club's planning got the order wrong.

The clubs are affected in two ways. AZ has long been known for developing its own players, which makes the locally trained quota easier to meet. A club built mostly through recruitment from abroad faces a tighter limit. Hapoel Beer Sheva works under the same UEFA rules but recruits from a different domestic market and a different pool of locally trained talent. How each club fills its quota depends on where its players came from.

Agents and selling clubs are affected too. When a club is shopping for a player late in a window, it will ask whether he can be registered in time for European fixtures, and whether he counts as locally trained. The answers can change a player's value to that buyer.

Matches involving Israeli clubs have also, in recent seasons, raised practical questions about where matches are played. UEFA has at times moved them to neutral venues on security grounds. The source material does not show the venue arrangements for this fixture, and this article does not make assumptions about them.

Where do informed observers disagree about these rules?

The locally trained requirement has been argued over since it was introduced. Supporters of the rule say it gives clubs an incentive to invest in youth development. They also say it protects domestic football cultures from being completely overwhelmed by recruitment wealth. Critics question whether it works. Because the rule is based on where a player was trained rather than nationality, wealthy clubs can recruit teenagers from abroad early and have them qualify as home-grown later. Critics also say the quota is too small to change squad-building behaviour much at the highest level.

There is a separate argument about registration windows. Some argue that limited mid-season changes protect the integrity of a competition, because they stop clubs from rebuilding their squads halfway through. Others say the restrictions are hardest on clubs with smaller squads, which have less room to cope when the original list no longer fits the club's needs.

Neither side of either argument can be settled by one fixture. AZ against Hapoel Beer Sheva is simply a case where both sets of rules apply.

What are the practical implications for clubs like AZ?

For a Dutch club with a strong academy, the system mostly works in its favour. Academy graduates can fill the reserved List A places, and players still young enough for List B add depth without taking up a senior slot. That leaves more of the 25 places free for players signed in from outside.

The trade-off shows up in contract strategy. A club that relies on home-grown players to meet its quota needs to keep them. That pushes clubs towards extending contracts early and adding sell-on and buy-back clauses when those players leave. Losing several locally trained players in one window can leave a club short of the quota, even if the replacements are equally good.

Timing matters as well. A signing completed close to the end of the domestic window may still need to fit inside UEFA's separate registration timetable. Clubs therefore coordinate the transfer and the European registration together, rather than treating them as two separate tasks.

What should readers watch next?

There are three things to follow over the rest of the season. The first is any revision of squad lists ahead of the knockout rounds, which shows how clubs judge their own recruitment. The second is continuing debate within UEFA and among clubs about whether the locally trained rule should be tightened, loosened or redesigned. The third is how the new league-phase format affects squad size. Eight matches in the league phase rather than six in the old groups means more fixtures to cover. That may prompt clubs to make fuller use of List B.

Nothing in the available material reports the outcome of this fixture or any change to either club's squad. The rules described above apply whatever happened in the match.

Frequently asked questions

What is UEFA List A?

List A is the main squad list a club submits to UEFA for its club competitions. It can hold up to 25 players, and a minimum number of those places are reserved for locally trained players. A player not on List A or List B cannot take part in that competition, even if he is properly registered with his domestic league. A club that cannot fill the reserved places must submit a shorter list.

What does locally trained mean in UEFA rules?

A locally trained player is one who spent a set period at a club during a defined age window in his youth. The training can be at his current club or at any club in the same national association. The test is about where the player was trained, not his nationality. So a foreign player can qualify for a club in another country, and a domestic international who moved abroad young may not qualify at home.

What is UEFA List B?

List B is a supplementary list for younger players who meet UEFA's age conditions and have been registered with the club for a qualifying period. It has no fixed upper limit and does not count against the 25-player List A cap. Clubs with productive academies use it to add depth for European fixtures without giving up senior places on List A.

Can a new signing play in the Europa League straight away?

Only if the club has added him to its UEFA squad list before the relevant deadline. Being registered with a domestic league is a separate process and is not enough on its own. A player signed after the European list has been submitted may have to wait until the club can revise its list. That normally happens before the knockout rounds, under limits UEFA sets.

How does the Europa League league phase work?

The competition starts with a single league phase instead of separate groups. Each club plays eight matches against eight different opponents, and everyone is ranked in one shared table. The top-placed clubs go straight to the round of 16, the next group of clubs enter a knockout play-off, and the lowest-placed clubs are eliminated from the competition.

Why are some matches involving Israeli clubs played at neutral venues?

UEFA has at times moved matches involving Israeli clubs to neutral venues because of security concerns. The governing body decides these arrangements, and they can change over time. The source material behind this article does not say where the AZ and Hapoel Beer Sheva fixture is being played, so the venue for this particular match is not known here.

Sources and further reading

• UEFA: competition regulations for the Europa League, including the squad registration and locally trained player provisions.
• Google Trends (Netherlands): the search signal linking AZ, Hapoel Beer Sheva, the Europa League and related queries.
• KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association): domestic player registration rules that run alongside UEFA's system.
• Israel Football Association: domestic registration framework relevant to Israeli clubs in European competition.