Celtic’s Champions League campaign is not far away from kicking off. On Tuesday evening, the Bhoys will line up at de Kuip to take on Feyenoord on matchday one.

Earlier in the week, the Hoops’ squad for their group stage campaign was revealed. Some notable absentees included Alexandro Bernabei, Maik Nawrocki, and Marco Tilio, although the homegrown rule didn’t help with this lack of inclusions.

Each season when teams name their 25-man Champions League squads, they must include eight homegrown players who have been ‘locally trained’ by the club, or a club from the same country, for three years between the ages of 15 and 21. This is a rule Brendan Rodgers has recently spoken about.

It clearly came into play when the Irishman picked 25 Bhoys for Europe’s premier club competition. He said (Glasgow Times): “My focus will always personally be on the homegrown players. But if it means that you can’t pick what would be your strongest squad because of it then yeah, that can be a deterrent [to signing players]. I think it’s great that you have the players from your affiliated training who are able to be there. But at the same time, they have to be good enough as well.”

The likes of Mikey Johnston and James Forrest were included in Celtic’s Champions League squad, likely to only ensure the quota of homegrown players was met. If the rule didn’t exist, we could have perhaps seen more ample players such as Marco Tilio or Maik Nawrocki in the squad.

Unfortunately, though, Rodgers cannot alter the rule, which is sometimes like solving a puzzle. It can be frustrating at times but it does look to ensure homegrown talent is nurtured by clubs across Europe.

Nevertheless, it is inevitable countries that have several times the populations of Scotland such as Spain and France will produce better players yet clubs from there still need to include the same number of homegrown players. Some have argued this is a flaw of the regulation, although it doesn’t look like it’ll change any time soon.