Ryder Cup legend Bernard Gallacher has joined forces with Rory McIlroy in demanding a rule change to allow LIV Golf players to represent Europe, including Jon Rahm, at the 2025 event in Bethpage.

Currently, European stars such as Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton are barred from the Ryder Cup due to their participation in the controversial LIV Golf series. To qualify for Team Europe, players must be active on the DP World Tour, but Rahm and Hatton were suspended after they jumped ship to the new tour before the 2024 season.

Gallacher, who captained Europe to victory in 1995 at Oak Hill, has backed calls for Team Europe captain Luke Donald to have access to top talents like Rahm and Hatton for the showdown in New York next year. He insists that Europe needs its strongest line-up to defend the title won in Rome last October. "You've got to put your strongest team out there," insisted Gallacher. "The main question last time was Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood but they were in their late forties. It's not like Jon Rahm who's 29 and is a US Open and Masters champion. Rory said he wouldn't want to face the Americans without Jon Rahm and that says it all.

He told Bunkered: "Tyrrell Hatton is a major winner ready to happen. Take Scottie Scheffler out of it, he's as good as the players around. I've always felt he's a guy who could win a major so you take him as well. You can't not play the strongest team. The Ryder Cup would be very diminished without Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, for sure."

Gallacher's sentiments mirror those of McIlroy after Rahm left the PGA Tour for a deal estimated to be worth around £400million. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Northern Irishman expressed his belief that twice major champion Rahm would still be part of Donald's 12-man team despite his move to LIV, given the Spaniard's crucial role in Europe's prospects.

McIlroy stated: "Jon is going to be in Bethpage in 2025 so, because of this decision, the tour are going to have to rewrite the rules for Ryder Cup eligibility, absolutely," he told Sky Sports News following the Spaniard's switch to LIV. There's no question about that. I certainly want Jon Rahm on the next Ryder Cup team. I'm going to miss competing against him week in and week out. He's got so much talent, he's so tenacious, he's a great teammate in the Ryder Cup."

Former Europe captain Paul McGinley, who sits on the Ryder Cup advisory board, said last month that it's not a given that rules will be altered to allow LIV players to participate in next year's tournament.

"Under the current systems, [LIV players] are not going to be eligible," McGinley informed the Belfast Telegraph. "So the rules will have to be changed if they are to be played. But there are a lot of hurdles to jump to get to the place where they're going to be eligible." You've got to balance making sure the Ryder Cup stays in this top echelon, with the best players playing, but also being fair to the players on both sides. So it's a negotiating position."