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What are the EFL rules on homegrown players?
Watford defender Mattie Pollock
Image caption, Watford are among the clubs who have a number of homegrown players that do not represent England or Wales
Jonty Colman

BBC Sport journalist

In the Championship, League One and League Two, clubs must have a minimum of eight homegrown players registered in their squad.

For a league game in the EFL, clubs must name at least seven homegrown players in their matchday squad.

A homegrown player is someone who has been registered with either their current club, or any English or Welsh club, for a period of three seasons or 36 months prior to either their 21st birthday, or the end of the season that the player in question turns 21.

These rules are only enforced in league matches and are not enforced by the EFL for the FA Cup, EFL Cup or EFL Trophy.

The Premier League operates its own separate system of rules on squad lists and homegrown players.

An example of the rule classifying players as homegrown, despite not being English or Welsh, can be seen in Watford's recent 2-0 win over Charlton Athletic.

Watford defenders Mattie Pollock and Marc Bola were the only players who are listed as English in the Hornets matchday squad. However, Hector Kyprianou (Cyprus), Jordan Zemura (Zimbabwe), Daniel Bachmann (Austria), Stephy Mavididi (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Amin Nabizada (Afghanistan), who all represent other countries for international games, are classed as homegrown due to where they played their club football as youth players.

Once an EFL club has submitted its squad list following the conclusion of the summer transfer window, each club is required to list at least one club-developed player per match on its squad list or team sheet.

For any match in which a club fails to do so, they are permitted one fewer player on their bench for the game. In the Championship, that would mean eight substitutes instead of nine, and in League One and League Two, it would result in six substitutes instead of seven.

Players aged under 21 do not count towards squad lists across all three EFL leagues, while goalkeepers are not included in the squad lists for League One and League Two.

This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team. This question is from James in London.

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