MLS Draft Rules

MLS SUPERDRAFT Rules
These are players drafted by teams at the annual MLS SuperDraft, which consists of four rounds. In order to be eligible to be drafted, players must be: invited to participate in that year's MLS Player Combine; Generation adidas-signed players; or college players who no longer have college eligibility and are nominated by MLS teams. The selection order is determined as follows: The first six selections are from teams that did not qualify for the previous playoffs beginning with the team with fewest regular season points (3 points per win, one point per tie). The remaining eight positions are ranked by fewest regular season points among the teams that were eliminated in the same round of the previous year's MLS Cup Playoffs. An expansion team receives the first selection in each round.

A player who was drafted by a particular team through the SuperDraft and did not sign with the League, is placed on that team's "College Protected List" until the second December 31 following the draft in question, after which the team loses the rights to the player.