UEFA have confirmed Ben Davies is classed an 'homegrown' player, allowing Tottenham to include another foreign star in their 25-man Champions League squad list.
Davies was classed as an overseas player after coming through the ranks at Welsh club Swansea. The 29-year-old is a Wales international and helped his country qualify for this year's World Cup. He was also part of the squad that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
Yet UEFA have changed their stance due to Swansea playing in the English Football League (EFL). As such, Davies is now classed as an "association-trained" player. Davies has spent his entire career in the Premier League, playing 253 games in the competition.
UEFA rules force Champions League teams to have at least eight locally trained players in their 25-man squad. As Davies rarely misses a game for Tottenham when fit, he would've surely been included as one of their foreign players if UEFA didn't change their stance.
That means Antonio Conte would've probably had to sacrifice one of his overseas stars. Fortunately for the Italian, that is no longer a concern. Spurs are back in the Champions League this term after failing to qualify for the last two editions of the competition.
As well as Davies, Tottenham's other locally-trained are Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga, Harry Kane, Oliver Skipp, Ryan Sessegnon, Brandon Austin and Fraser Forster. Eric Dier is classed as a foreign player after coming through the ranks at Sporting Lisbon, despite being an England international that has been at Spurs for the past eight years.
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Matt Doherty is also classed as an overseas player, even though he's spent his entire career in England - bar a 17-game loan spell at Hibernian in 2012. The 30-year-old is a Republic of Ireland international who came through the ranks at Dublin-based Bohemians.
UEFA's strict rules have caused problems for Tottenham before. Argentine defender Juan Foyth was left out of their Champions League squad during the 2018-19 campaign because then manager Mauricio Pochettino didn't have enough overseas slots available.
Pochettino said the decision was "painful". He added: "It's a mistake we made that at this level of football we cannot repeat again. We need to find a solution."
All four Premier League clubs have confirmed their squads for the Champions League group stage, which starts on Tuesday. There are no major shocks in Chelsea's or Manchester City's squads, while Liverpool have omitted Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Tottenham's campaign gets underway at home to French giants Marseille on Wednesday night. The other two teams in their group are German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt and Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, with Conte's side expected to finish top of the table.
Tottenham Champions League squad in full: Brandon Austin, Fraser Forster, Hugo Lloris; Ben Davies, Davinson Sánchez, Eric Dier, Matt Doherty, Emerson, Clément Lenglet, Cristian Romero, Ryan Sessegnon, Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga; Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Dejan Kulusevski, Ivan Perišić, Pape Saar, Oliver Skipp, Heung-Min Son; Bryan Gil, Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, Richarlison
