Who Has Medical Scans Done in the Premier League?

The Premier League does not publish who has medical scans done, and anyone who says otherwise is guessing. The official record that matters is the 25-player squad list, because it is the only registration document the league publishes. For players over 21, that list is capped at 25, at least eight of those places go to homegrown players, and under-21 players sit outside the cap entirely.

The mechanism: who has medical scans done

The league rules cover registration, not scans. There is no central scan database in the Premier League rulebook, so if you want to know who has had a scan, you have to work backwards from the squad list.

For players over 21, the squad list is capped at 25. At least 8 of those 25 must be homegrown, meaning they were trained in England or Wales for three years before turning 21. Under-21 players do not count against the 25.

That creates two different registration budgets. An over-21 player takes one of the 25 spaces, so a club is effectively choosing between that player and any other player it might sign. If the player fails a medical or breaks down later, the club has spent a place it cannot get back until the next squad list. The scan is the club's check before it commits that place. The league does not publish the check, but it publishes the result: if the player is on the list, the club decided the risk was acceptable.

Under-21 players are a different category. Because they do not occupy a squad place, clubs can add them without losing an over-21 slot. That changes the medical calculation. A young player can be signed with a longer view, because the registration cost is lower. The scan still matters, but it is not competing against a squad cap in the same way.

The homegrown rule adds a second layer. The 25-player squad cannot be filled entirely with foreign-trained players, because eight places are reserved for homegrown players. A club with too many non-homegrown over-21 players has to leave some of them out entirely. That choice is made before the player is medically cleared, which is why scan results are not the only thing deciding a transfer. Contract size, age and the homegrown count are all part of the same registration puzzle. The 25-man list is the final published version of that puzzle.

History: why the list matters more than it used to

The Premier League was founded on 20 February 1992, when First Division clubs broke away to negotiate their own broadcast deals. The first season, 1992/93, had 22 clubs. That format did not last; the league reduced to 20 clubs in 1995/96.

That reduction changed the size of the player pool. With 20 clubs and 38 matches per season, the league produces 380 matches per season. Each club plays 38 matches, home and away. Three points are awarded for a win and one for a draw. The bottom three are relegated to the Championship, and three clubs come up, two automatic and one via play-off. Every squad place is now part of a 380-match fight.

The tiebreakers show how expensive a bad signing can be. If teams finish level on points, the next tests are goal difference, goals scored, head-to-head record, and finally a play-off at a neutral venue when the position decides the title, relegation or European qualification. None of those tiebreakers include medical scans. What they do is raise the cost of registration mistakes. A player who is not fit can cost a club points, which costs a place in the table, which costs money. The scan is the cheapest insurance against that risk.

This is why the scan question is best answered with the squad list rather than a medical report. The list is the league's only public statement of who is eligible, and it works the same for a club like Arsenal (/clubs/arsenal) as it does for Manchester United (/clubs/manchester-united). The medical department at each club runs its own process, but the registration cap is identical.

Edge cases: under-21s, substitutions and Europe

The first edge case is the under-21 player. Because under-21 players do not count against the 25, clubs can carry more of them. That makes young players attractive in a way that over-21 squad players are not. A club can take a risk on a teenager's fitness without spending a precious over-21 space. The scan still happens, but the decision has a different shape.

The second edge case is the matchday bench. Five substitutions are allowed per match, made in a maximum of three windows plus half-time. That rule defines how many players a manager can use, but it does not define who was medically cleared. A player on the 25-man list is eligible for those five substitutions; a player outside the list is not. Scans have to be resolved before the list is set, not before the third substitution window opens.

The third edge case is European qualification. The top four clubs go to the Champions League league phase. Fifth place and the FA Cup winner go to the Europa League, and the League Cup winner goes to the Conference League play-off. If a cup winner has already qualified through the league, the place passes down. European matches add to the fixture list, which makes squad depth more valuable. A club such as Chelsea (/clubs/chelsea) still has to fit its over-21 players into the same 25-man cap, but the medical department has to get more players through the season without burning the squad down. That is where scan planning becomes a competitive edge, not just an administrative step.

What fantasy managers actually see

Fantasy Premier League does not include scan data. The FPL scoring system uses goals, assists, clean sheets, bonus points, appearances, yellow cards, red cards, own goals, penalty misses, penalty saves, goalkeeper saves and goals conceded. None of those metrics tell you whether a player passed a medical.

So the strongest fantasy signal is availability. If a player is on the 25-man squad list, he is eligible to score points. If he is not on the list, no amount of medical clearance can get him into the game. The scan question is therefore a registration question in disguise. Fantasy managers should spend less time guessing who has medical scans done and more time looking at who is in the squad.

FAQ

Does the Premier League publish medical scan results? No. The league publishes squad lists and match statistics. Scan results stay with clubs and players.

Do under-21 players need medical scans before they play? Under-21 players do not count against the 25-man squad list, so their registration works differently. The league rules describe the squad cap and the homegrown requirement, not the scan process.

How many players can a club register? Clubs can register 25 players over the age of 21, and at least 8 of those 25 must be homegrown. Under-21 players are outside the limit.

Are matchday substitutes part of the 25-man squad? A player has to be in the squad to be used. The substitution rule allows five changes per match in a maximum of three windows plus half-time, but it does not override the registration list.

Key takeaways

• The Premier League does not publish medical scans; the 25-player squad list is the official registration answer to who has medical scans done.
• Over-21 players are capped at 25 per club, with at least 8 homegrown places.
• Under-21 players do not count against the squad cap, which lowers the registration risk for young signings.
• The league has used a 20-club, 38-match format since 1995/96, with three points for a win and relegation for the bottom three.
• FPL scoring contains no scan data, so squad availability matters more than medical speculation.