Philadelphia Union to select from unprotected players in Expansion Draft on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
RENTON, WASH. – The Seattle Sounders FC announced today the list of protected players for the 2009 Major League Soccer Expansion Draft to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 1 p.m. ET. The League’s 16th team, Philadelphia Union, will begin to take shape following the 10-round draft.
Listed below are the details regarding the League’s expansion draft, as well as the protected player list and the list of players who are graduating from Generation adidas. Philadelphia may not claim more than one player from any given team in MLS, and five teams will not have a player taken in the expansion draft.
At the conclusion of the Expansion Draft teams may resume trading. The expansion draft details are listed below:
SOUNDERS FC LIST OF PROTECTED PLAYERS FOR WEDNESDAY’S DRAFT
Alonso, Osvaldo
Evans, Brad
Gonzalez, Leo
Hurtado, Jhon Kennedy
Ianni, Patrick
Jaqua, Nate
Keller, Kasey
Ljungberg, Freddie
Marshall, Tyrone
Montero, Fredy
Zakuani, Steve
2009 MLS Expansion Draft Rules
Senior Roster
·       Teams may protect 11 players between their Senior and their Developmental Roster.
·       If the Player’s contract expires at the end of 2009, he will still be considered part of the Team’s Senior Roster.
·       If a Team protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player’s option. It may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years.
·       If a player retires, he will not be a part of the Senior Roster, but his Team will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.
Developmental Roster
·       Players on a Team’s Developmental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2009 season and Home Grown Players, will be part of the expansion draft.
·       Generation adidas players (who have not been graduated at the end of the 2009 season) and Home Grown players are automatically protected (teams do not have to use a protected slot on them)If Philadelphia selects a Developmental Player it must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must be on Philadelphia’s Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date.
International Players
·       Teams are restricted in the number of International player(s) that they may make available per the table set forth below.
·       For purposes of this expansion process, for US-based teams, any non-domestic US player would count as an International and for Toronto FC, any non-domestic US player or non-domestic Canadian player would count as an International.
Designated Players
Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in which case he must be protected.
Maximum Player Loss
Once a player has been claimed from a Team’s non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players.
Right to Renegotiate
Philadelphia will have the right to renegotiate a drafted player’s salary (either up or down) without having to place such player on waivers or giving his previous Team a right of first refusal.
Priority
On the first day of the Discovery/Allocation Period, Philadelphia will have priority over players who played professionally in the USL First or Second Division in 2009, subject to another MLS team’s right of first refusal.
Rounds
The expansion draft will be 10 rounds.
INTERNATIONAL PLAYER PROTECTION REQUIREMENT TABLE
Teams may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus 3, provided that if a team has 3 or less international players it may make available not more than 1.
