Bundesliga with new rules: more players, more opportunities for talents!

Bundesliga with new rules: more players, more opportunities for talents!

From the 2025/26 season, the Bundesliga clubs are facing an exciting innovation: in the future they may set 20 players to the game report instead of 18 players. This sounds like a small step, but has a big impact on the strategy of the clubs. The CEO Christian Ebenbauer underlined that this measure is essential in view of the increasing burdens of players in international competitions. Above all, this regulation should also offer young talents more possible uses. This change also means that every association who wants to nominate 19 or 20 players and participate in the "Austrian pot" must set up at least 13 Austrians, while only 18 players drop the number to 12. Here, the focus remains on the promotion of domestic talent-a measure that is understood by many as a clear advantage of the development of the Austrian football player, as the Kleine Zeitung reported.

Financial advantages for second division clubs

In a further remarkable decision, the second division clubs also benefit from the distributions from the European Cup income of the UEFA this season, which represents financial support for these clubs. The UEFA distributes about seven percent of its income and due to the participation of Sturm Graz and Red Bull Salzburg on the Champions League, payments are particularly high this season. This also gives the second division clubs a fair opportunity to benefit from the European income. Another remarkable aspect is the introduction of a common "strategy promotion pot" for the 28 top clubs in Austria, in which money flows out of different pots in order to promote training infrastructure and inclusion measures, also added up to Ebenbauer, as on the website of the DFL German football league can be read.