Borussia Dortmund have registered three additional players for the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League – Michy Batshuayi, Marco Reus and Jadon Sancho –  who were not previously eligible to play for the club. Seven names have been removed from Lists A and B (the latter may include an unlimited number of youth players): Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Neven Subotic and Marc Bartra (List A) and Eike Bansen, Jacob Bruun Larsen, Till Schumacher and Janni-Luca Serra (List B) all left the club – in some cases on loan – over the winter break.

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Manuel Akanji and Michy Batshuayi

In Chapter VII of the Rules and Regulations of the UEFA Europa League, there are four pages dedicated to the criteria for registering additional players for the current competition. "For all matches from the Round of 32 onwards, a club may register a maximum of three new eligible players for the remaining matches in the current competition," the document states. But only one of those three players may have previously featured internationally for another club that season. Which explains why Peter Stöger can't register Manuel Akanji and Michy Batshuayi despite both individually fulfilling the stringent criteria. Only one player can be registered who has been active "not in the same competition" that season – i.e. the UEFA Europa League – and has not "played for another club that is currently still in the same competition". Akanji and Batshuayi have played for Basel and Chelsea respectively in the current Champions League campaign. But if both clubs had finished third in their group and been "relegated" to the UEFA Europa League, neither player would have been eligible for BVB this season.

As it is, Borussia Dortmund may register one of the two players and Peter Stöger has opted for Batshuayi. Akanji has shown great understanding for the decision: "I would've liked to play in Europe as well, but I understand the situation," said the Swiss international. "We only had one striker, Alex Isak, and Michy could really help us if he scores some goals. That's not where my strengths lie."

However, Batshuayi has had to switch shirt numbers. As youth player Till Schumacher, who has since moved to FC Vysocina Jihlava in the Czech top flight, was registered under the shirt number 44 with UEFA, Batshuayi will wear the number 42 at international level... (br)