MLS has announced that the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft will take place on Nov. 19. Entering the league in 2020 and participating in the draft are Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC.
The Expansion Draft provides an opportunity for Miami and Nashville to strengthen their MLS rosters by selecting up to five current players from other MLS teams. Each current MLS team may protect up to 12 rostered players (previously 11 in years past) from inclusion on the eligible players list.
The complete list of players eligible for selection in the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft will be released on Saturday, November 16.
Exempt clubs with players selected by FC Cincinnati in the 2018 Expansion Draft are D.C. United, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, FC Dallas, the Houston Dynamo, and the New York Red Bulls.
Minnesota United participated in the 2016 Expansion Draft, selecting Chris Duvall, Collen Warner, Mohammed Saeid, Jeff Attinella and Femi Hollinger-Janzen to join the club for its inaugural season. Hollinger-Janzen, Attinella and Duvall were subsequently traded prior to the Loons kicking off the season, but midfielders Warner and Saeid stuck with the club and made appearances early in the year, with Warner holding down a midfield position throughout the club's first two seasons in Major League Soccer.
An opening coin toss for the Expansion Priority Draft will determine which club receives the first pick among the five available player-acquisition methods. Following the first pick, teams will alternate through subsequent selections until all roster-building mechanisms have been chosen.
MLS Expansion Priority Draft
- No.1 pick in 2019 MLS Expansion Draft
- No.1 pick in 2020 MLS SuperDraft presented by adidas
- No.1 position in Allocation Ranking Order
- Penultimate position in MLS Re-Entry and End-of-Year Waiver Order
- Penultimate position in Discovery Player Ranking
