Birmingham City EFL squad list revealed as 22-year-old omitted

League One clubs are limited to a 22-man squad, that does not include goalkeepers, or players who are under the age of 21 at the start of the calendar year. It means that summer signings such as Ayumu Yokoyama and Cody Pennington do not need to be registered as a senior player, as Yokoyama was 20 at the start of the year, whilst Pennington is only 18-years-old.

Any loan player – irrespective of age – must be included in the squad list. Luke Harris, a 19-year-old, is on loan from Fulham, and is under 21, but has to be included. All the other loan players Birmingham have are above the age of 21.

Clubs are still able to sign players who were free agents before the summer registration period shut, but they must have a free slot in their squad list. When the January transfer window opens in 2025, clubs are allowed to alter their squad lists.

One of the rules the EFL has is that Eight of the 25 must be home-grown, a player, regardless of nationality, that has been registered with any club associated with the English or Welsh FA for at least three years prior to turning 21. Birmingham absolutely smash that and have 14 players over the age of 21 that are regarded as homegrown.

Interestingly, Tyler Roberts has been named on their squad list. He is out on loan at league rivals Northampton Town for the entirety of the 2024/25 season.

One exclusion is Alfie Chang, who is still recovering from a serious knee injury sustained in September 2023. The 22-year-old is under contract at St Andrew's until the summer of 2026 after signing an extension in November of last year. He is still rehabilitating from his injury, but is hoped he can return to training soon.

Josh Williams, who turns 22 in November, is another player that isn’t included. The 21-year-old full-back spent a period of last season on loan at Cheltenham Town, but returned in January, however he wasn’t named in any of their match day squads upon his return.

Blues senior EFL squad list: Keshi Anderson, Krystian Bielik, Lee Buchanan, Alex Cochrane, Ben Davies, Lyndon Dykes, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Emil Hansson, Tomoki Iwata, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Christoph Klarer, Ethan Laird, Marc Leonard, Alfie May, Seung-Ho Paik, Tyler Roberts, Alfons Samspted, Dion Sanderson, Jay Stansfield, Willum Willumsson, and Scott Wright.

Birmingham City’s under-21 squad list: Benjamin Beresford, Godfred Boakye, Junior Dixon, Taylor Dodd, Romelle Donovan, James Ellis, Cameron Eubank, Laiith Fairnie, Tommy Fogarty, George Hall, Harley Hamilton, Luke Harris, Josh Home, Daniel Isichei, Oluwafemi Jakobsen-Olofinjana, Sahid Kamara, Brandon Khela, Menzi Maphosa Mazwi, Bradley Mayo, William O'Sullivan, Byron Pendleton, Cody Pennington, Stoyan Pergelov, Alvaro Ruiz Rente, Oliver Sayer, Frank Tattum, Zachary Willis, Benjamin Wodskou, and Ayumu Yokoyama.