Championship, League One and League Two clubs are required to register at least eight homegrown players in their squads.
For league fixtures, EFL teams must include a minimum of seven homegrown players in their matchday squad.
A player qualifies as homegrown if they were registered with their present team, or another club in England or Wales, for three seasons or 36 months before turning 21 or before the end of the season in which they reached that age.
The regulations apply exclusively to league fixtures and are not imposed by the EFL in the FA Cup, EFL Cup or EFL Trophy.
The Premier League has a different set of regulations governing squad registration and homegrown players.
Watford’s recent 2-0 victory against Charlton Athletic illustrates how footballers can qualify as homegrown without being English or Welsh.
Defenders Mattie Pollock and Marc Bola were the only players identified as English in Watford’s matchday squad. However, Hector Kyprianou of Cyprus, Jordan Zemura of Zimbabwe, Daniel Bachmann of Austria, Stephy Mavididi of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Amin Nabizada of Afghanistan also met the homegrown criteria because they played youth football for qualifying clubs, despite representing other nations internationally.
After submitting their squad lists at the end of the summer transfer window, EFL clubs must name at least one player developed by the club on every matchday squad list or team sheet.
If a team fails to meet this requirement, it must leave one place empty on the substitutes’ bench. A Championship side would therefore be limited to eight substitutes rather than nine, while League One and League Two teams would be allowed six instead of seven.
Players under the age of 21 are excluded from registered squad limits in all three EFL divisions. Goalkeepers are also omitted from squad lists in League One and League Two.
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