Welcome to part three of this series looking at all the rules and regulations of Major League Soccer (MLS). I intend to break all the nuances of MLS down into bitesized guides for anyone considering a save in the US. Hopefully by breaking everything down for readers it will be easier to find a solution or advice to a particular issue they have encountered without having to scroll through one big all encompassing MLS post.

Posts will be broken down as follows and once there are all published you can click the links below to be taken to that guide.

1. MLS League Format and Competitions

2. Squad registration rules and Salary Cap

3. Buying and Trading players

4. General Allocation Money (GAM) and Targeted Allocation Money (TAM)

Today we take a look at the facet of FM we all love, how you go about acquiring players in MLS.

Methods to acquire players

There are six main ways to bring players into your MLS roster. I will go through each of these methods in turn, some of which will seem completely alien to anyone who has only ever played in European leagues, and others will already be very fairly familiar to almost all FM players.

1. Trades

2. “Discovery” Signings

3. Homegrown Signings

4. Free Transfers

5. Waivers

6. Drafts

Trades

Trades are the only way to transfer players between two MLS clubs. At first glance it may seem this is just another word for a swap deal, that most players will be familiar with. It is so much more than that, MLS clubs are able to trade a number of different assets to get the deal done.

The first asset you can use is, of course, a player. Unlike European leagues the players have no say as to whether they go to a new club or not. The players are essentially owned by the league and must play for whoever holds their registration. When players are traded the club acquiring a player takes on his current contract, so there is no new contract negotiation upon completion of the deal. You can add any number of players within a trade but remember you must not breach salary cap or squad registration rules or you will be unable to register your new player(s) on your MLS roster.

The second asset you can use is General Allocation (GAM) or Targeted Allocation Money (TAM). My next post will look at exactly what GAM and TAM are but in basic terms this is money that MLS clubs are given by the league and are allowed to use for various things throughout the season (for example buying down contracts or to trade with). Clubs will often add GAM or TAM to trades and sometimes this amount will seem low to those who only play in Western Leagues but it is important to remember that this money is controlled by the MLS (clubs can’t just use their billionaire owners money for example) and as such it is finite and holds a higher value than it may seem at first.

The third asset at your disposal is SuperDraft picks. Every year college players enter the league by way of the SuperDraft, this works in a similar fashion to other US sports such as NFL. The order of the SuperDraft is set by where teams finish in the previous season’s MLS. So the team that finishes bottom will get first pick and the team finishing first will go last. MLS sides are permitted to trade their Draft picks to other MLS sides. Some teams place a high value on their SuperDraft picks while others may not. This divergence may be something you can exploit either way in your trade deals.

The fourth asset you have are International Slots. As part of the squad registration rules MLS clubs are only allowed eight international players on their 30 man roster (note - players holding a green card are not counted as international). Clubs are permitted to trade these eight international slots as they see fit. International slots can be traded for 1-5 years or permanently. Currently in the MLS save my Portland Timbers side only have six international slots as two were traded prior to my arrival. It is my intention to trade two back somehow during the off season so I can bring in more international players.

The final asset is certainly strange to those of us not used to playing MLS. It is “player rights” - If a player leaves your club and MLS altogether, you still hold his MLS rights. So, in the future if an MLS club wishes to sign him back and use him on their MLS roster, they must first deal with you to obtain his MLS rights from you. Clearly this is a commodity, and as such it can traded. You can trade your MLS rights to a certain player to any other club as part of a trade if you so wish. This would mean if the player ever returns to MLS the club signing him would no longer deal with you to obtain his rights, they would deal with the club you traded his rights to.

It is important to note that you can trade absolutely any combination of these in ever increasing or decreasing amounts. The possibilities are endless and it is actually a lot of fun, and equalling infuriating, trying to construct a deal that is suitable for all parties involved. The key thing to remember is to never lose sight of the league registration rules, you can not break these and there would be nothing worse than giving up something for a player that can not be registered.

“Discovery” signings

A “discovery” signing is essentially the same as a normal signing all FM players are used to. You can use your own transfer budget to sign a player from outside MLS for a fee. Discovery signings also include any loan deals you may agree. There used to be limit on the amount of discovery signings a club could make but this has been removed. Remember squad registration rules still apply.

Homegrown signings

Almost all MLS sides have an academy side players from your youth intake go into your academy so it is always worth checking out who is in there, this youth intake is separate from the SuperDraft that is made up of college players. You can ‘sign’ any of these players and bring them into your MLS roster, this ‘signing’ is essentially the same as promoting a youth player in European Leagues, and during a small injury crises I took the opportunity to ‘sign’ Jim Barboza from the Timbers academy to provide some much needed cover at Centre Back.

Free Transfers

These work in exactly the same manner as FM players are accustomed to. All you have to remember is you can’t breach squad registration rules. You also cannot sign US youth players on a free, these players can only be signed via the SuperDraft.

Waivers

Whenever a player is released from an MLS club he will be initially placed on the Waiver list. Other MLS clubs will have two days to make a claim on this player and take on his current contract. If two or more clubs put in a claim for the same player, the club that places higher on the waiver order will be given the player by MLS. The Waiver order is similar to the SuperDraft order. The club who finished top of MLS in the previous season will be bottom of the waiver order while the club that finished last will be first.

Drafts

There are four different drafts in MLS.

1. SuperDraft

2. Waiver Draft

3. Re-Entry Draft

4. Expansion Draft

SuperDraft

The SuperDraft is made up of college players and elite level youth players. It is held every January and consists of four rounds, with each team getting one pick per round. The order of club picks is determined by reverse performance in MLS the previous season.

Waiver Draft

There are two Waiver drafts in the MLS calendar. The first one is in March after initial squad registration and the second is at the end of the season in December. Players that are not placed on their clubs MLS roster after squad registration in March are placed on the Waiver list. Other MLS clubs will then have two days to make a claim on a player and take on his current contract. If two or more players make a claim on the same player the club that places higher on the Waiver order will be given the player by MLS.

The second Waiver Draft takes place at the end of the season in December and consists of players whose MLS club have not extended their contract but the player doesn’t meet the requirements to be placed on the Re-Entry draft (see below). The process for claiming a player in this Waiver Draft is the same as above.

Re-Entry Draft

The MLS Re-entry draft is for players who contracts have expired with their current MLS club, and the club has not agreed a new deal with them. If the player wishes to remain in MLS (some players will prefer to leave MLS and won’t be available) he can put himself forward for the Re-entry draft which happens at the end of the season in December. In order to be placed in the Re-Entry draft the player must fulfil one of the following criteria. If he does not he will be made available via the Waiver Draft (see above).

• Players who are at least 23 years old and have a minimum of three years of MLS experience whose options were not exercised by their club.

• Players who are at least 25 years old with a minimum of four years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not offer them a contract at their previous salary.

• Players who are at least 30 years old with a minimum of eight years of MLS experience who are out of contract and whose club does not wish to re-sign them.

The Re-entry draft takes place in two stages. In stage one players drafted by MLS clubs must have their current deal extended, clubs cannot renegotiate the salary or contract type. Players not drafted in stage one will enter stage two. Stage two is similar to stage one, but clubs can now draft players and renegotiate their contracts (note players do not have to accept terms and can chose instead to leave the league and become a free agent.) So you will need to decide whether that player you want is worth getting in Stage one on his current salary or can you risk waiting until stage two and renegotiating terms. Draft picks are again decided by reverse performance in MLS during the previous season.

Expansion Draft

The expansion draft takes place only when a new MLS side comes into the league. In FM22 Charlotte FC enter the Eastern conference in 2022 and Nashville move to the Western Conference. This means there will be an expansion draft exclusively for Charlotte FC in season two of FM22. Prior to the expansion draft each MLS club will be allowed to ‘protect’ 11 players, these 11 players will not be available to be drafted by the expansion side during the draft. There are five rounds and each team in the expansion (Charlotte FC) gets one pick per round. The aim of MLS here is to give new teams the chance to acquire up to five MLS standard players from other teams. They can, however, only select one player from any one MLS team, so you won’t lose five players!

So there you have it, there are a multitude of ways to acquire players in MLS. Hopefully after reading this you feel in a better position to tackle the league and get buying and trading some players!

If you want to watch two terrible streamers play FM in MLS then why not tune into www.twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 8pm GMT, it would be great to see you there.

Over and out

FMEadster!