According to the current game rules, the German Football League (DFL) would reject such an application if the club had more than 15 players available – including at least nine licensed players and including at least one goalkeeper. The remaining squad seats can be occupied by amateur and contract players who are eligible to play in the licensed team. The prerequisite for this is that these players are on the DFL’s “player authorization list”. However, this is not publicly available.
It can also be important that the DFL evaluates banned and typically sporty injured players as “available”. The same applies to corona infections resulting from grossly negligent or willful violations of the DFL’s hygiene concept. Among other things, this is to prevent clubs from abusing the rule. Otherwise, it would be conceivable, for example, that a club would report two more players as injured in order to get below the limit of 16 available players.