Euro 2024 squads expanded to 26 players in boost to Gareth Southgate

All teams will be allowed to select 26 players for this summer’s European ­Championship finals after Uefa agreed to an increase in the size of squads.

A vote taken by the influential national competitions committee on Monday is understood to have approved a motion to maintain the 26-player limit introduced as an emergency measure for the Covid-disrupted tournament of 2021. Numbers were to be reduced to the traditional 23 for this summer in Germany but were resisted by a number of national coaches, including England’s Gareth Southgate. The proposal must now be signed off by Uefa’s executive, with the process possibly completed as early as this week.

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Southgate has previously spoken in favour of 26-player squads, feeling that the physical demands on his players during the league season will require that players’ minutes are managed during the tournament. Asked last month whether he supported the push to maintain an expanded squad list, England’s head coach said it would be a help “given where we are now”. England, he said, “have got to make the best decisions [regarding selection] with what we know and some of those currently are going to be medical decisions. We’ve been able to get those right in the previous [two] tournaments. We’ve been able to give people time [to recover, having named them in the squad]. But with 23 that’s definitely more difficult.”

The referee teams for Euro 2024 have also been announced, with substantial representation for English officials. Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor were selected among the 18 officials named by Uefa on Tuesday and will be accompanied by the assistant referees Stuart Burt, Dan Cook, Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn. Stuart Attwell and David Coote, meanwhile, are part of the VAR teams.

As part of Uefa’s exchange programme with Conmebol, the Argentine referee Facundo Tello will officiate in Germany, but there is no place for Stéphanie Frappert, who made history by becoming the first woman to officiate at a men’s ­European Championship in 2021.