2023 MLS SuperDraft
The 2023 MLS SuperDraft was the 24th edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. It was held on December 21, 2022, becoming the first SuperDraft to be held in December, but will retain the 2023 branding.[1] The draft was conducted via conference call and streamed online. Previously, the SuperDraft had been held in conjunction with the annual January United Soccer Coaches convention.[2]
2023 MLS SuperDraft | |
---|---|
General information | |
Sport | Soccer |
Date(s) | December 21, 2022 |
Time | 1:00 p.m. |
Network(s) | Twitch |
Overview | |
83 total selections in 3 rounds | |
League | Major League Soccer |
Teams | 29 |
First selection | Hamady Diop, Charlotte FC |
Since 2021, the SuperDraft has consisted of three rounds. Teams that received fourth-round picks for this draft via past trades received compensatory picks instead.[3] The first overall pick is awarded to expansion team St. Louis City SC and the remaining picks are set by 2022 regular season and post-season results in reverse order.[1]
Format
The SuperDraft format has remained constant throughout its history and closely resembles that of the NFL Draft:
- Any expansion teams receive the first picks. MLS announced that St. Louis City SC[4] would debut in 2023 instead of 2022, and the league's expansion to Sacramento was put on hiatus indefinitely.
- Non-playoff clubs receive the next picks in reverse order of prior season finish.
- Teams that made the MLS Cup Playoffs are then ordered by which round of the playoffs they are eliminated.
- The winners of the MLS Cup are given the last selection, and the losers the penultimate selection.
Player selection
Player key | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
* | Denotes player who has been selected for an MLS Best XI team | ||||||||||
^ | Member of 2023 Generation Adidas class | ||||||||||
† | Player who was named to an MLS Best XI and Generation Adidas | ||||||||||
Signed key | |||||||||||
28 | Denotes player who signed for a MLS team (Division I) | ||||||||||
4 | Denotes player who signed for a USL Championship team (Division II) | ||||||||||
38 | Denotes player who signed for a MLS Next Pro, USL League One or NISA team (Division III) | ||||||||||
3 | Denotes player who signed for a team outside the United States soccer league system | ||||||||||
Positions key | |||||||||||
GK | Goalkeeper | DF | Defender | MF | Midfielder | FW | Forward |
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Compensatory pick for a trade done before the SuperDraft was downsized to only three rounds.
P | MLS team | Player | Pos. | College | Conference | Academy team | Other team | Signed |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
88 | Portland Timbers[R4 trade 1] | PASS | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Notable undrafted players
Homegrown players
Original MLS team | Player | Position | College | Conference | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seattle Sounders | Jacob Castro | GK | San Diego State | Pac-12 | [23] | |
New York Red Bulls | Jayden Reid | DF | Connecticut | Big East | [24] |
Eligible players who signed outside of MLS in 2023
This is a list of eligible players who signed in leagues outside of MLS prior to the SuperDraft, but were still draft eligible.
Player | Nat. | Position | College | Conference | Team | League | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nathan Opoku | FW | Syracuse | ACC | Leicester City | Premier League | [25] |
Other notable players
Original MLS Team | Player | Pos | Affiliation | Played in MLS | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Houston Dynamo FC | Charles Auguste | MF | Creighton | 2023– | |
Summary
Selections by college athletic conference
Conference | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
NCAA Division I conferences | ||||
ACC | 7 | 6 | 3 | 16 |
America East | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
American | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
Atlantic 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Big East | 3 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
Big South | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Big Ten | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
Big West | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Colonial | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Ivy | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
MAC | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
Pac-12 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
SoCon | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Sun Belt | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
WAC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
West Coast | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Non-Division I conferences | ||||
CCAA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Northeast-10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
NSIC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
NJCAA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Passes | ||||
Passes | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
Schools with multiple draft selections
Selections | Schools |
---|---|
5 | Syracuse |
4 | Maryland |
3 | Clemson, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Western Michigan |
2 | Creighton, Dayton, Georgetown, Penn, San Diego State, UNC Greensboro, Washington |
2023 SuperDraft trades
- Round 1
- No. 1: St. Louis City → Charlotte. December 21, 2022: Charlotte acquired St. Louis City SC's first-round selection in exchange for $400,000 in General Allocation Money and their No. 20 MLS SuperDraft pick.[5]
- No. 2: D.C. United → Orlando. December 21, 2022: Orlando acquired D.C. United's first-round selection in exchange for Ruan.[6]
- No. 3: Toronto → Colorado. July 8, 2022: Colorado acquired Toronto FC's first-round selection and Ralph Priso in exchange for $1,025,000 in general allocation money, and Mark-Anthony Kaye.[7]
- No. 4: San Jose → New England. December 21, 2022: New England acquired San Jose Earthquakes's first-round selection in exchange for $250,000 in General Allocation Money and their No. 10 MLS SuperDraft pick.[8]
- No. 5: Houston → Vancouver. December 21, 2022: Vancouver acquired Houston Dynamo FC's first-round selection in exchange for $225,000 in General Allocation Money and their No. 13 MLS SuperDraft pick.[8]
- No. 6: Chicago → Orlando. May 5, 2022: Orlando acquired Chicago Fire's first-round selection and discovery rights to Chris Mueller in exchange for $250,000 in 2022 general allocation money, and $250,000 in 2023 in general allocation money, and discovery prior for an unnamed player.[9]
- No. 7: Atlanta → Salt Lake. December 21, 2022: Real Salt Lake acquired Atlanta United FC's first-round selection in exchange for $175,000 in General Allocation Money.[8]
- No. 9: Seattle → St. Louis. December 21, 2022: St. Louis City acquired Seattle Sounders FC's first-round selection in exchange for $175,000 in General Allocation Money and the no. 59 pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft.[8]
- No. 10: New England → San Jose. December 21, 2022: San Jose acquired New England Revolution's first-round selection as part of the No.4 pick trade.[8]
- No. 11: Charlotte → Nashville. December 12, 2021: Nashville exercised the right to swap Charlotte FC's first-round selection in exchange for two international roster spots and Charlotte sending $500,000 allocation to Nashville.[10]
- No. 12: Colorado → Charlotte. December 21, 2022: Charlotte acquired Colorado Rapids No. 12 pick in exchange for $50,000 in 2023 GAM, $50,000 in conditional GAM, and a first round pick in the 2024 MLS SuperDraft.[11]
- No. 13: Vancouver → Houston → Austin. December 21, 2022: Houston acquired Vancouver Whitecaps FC's first-round selection as part of the No.5 pick trade. It was subsequently traded to Austin FC in exchange for $100,000 in General Allocation Money (50,000 in 2023 General Allocation Money (GAM), and $50k in 2024 GAM) and the No. 27 pick in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft.[12]
- No. 20: Nashville → Charlotte → St. Louis City → Austin. November 9, 2022: Charlotte acquired Nashville SC's first-round selection in a swap of first round picks from a December 12, 2021 trade, St. Louis acquired the No. 20 pick from Charlotte in exchange for $400,000 GAM and the No. 1 Pick. Austin acquired the No. 20 pick from St. Louis in exchange for $50,000 General Allocation Money and conditional General Allocation Money.[13]
- No. 25: Montréal → Salt Lake. December 21, 2022: Salt Lake acquired CF Montréal's first-round selection as part of the trade for Aaron Herrera.[14]
- No. 27: Austin → Houston → Columbus. December 21, 2022: Columbus acquired the pick from Houston for $50,000 of General Allocation Money.
- No. 29: Los Angeles FC → Vancouver. December 14, 2021: Vancouver acquired Los Angeles FC's first-round selection and Tristan Blackmon in exchange for $350,000 in General Allocation Money.[15]
- No. 59: St. Louis → Seattle. December 21, 2022: Seattle acquired the No. 59 pick from St. Louis City SC as part of the earlier No. 9 pick trade.[8]
- Round 2
- No. 35: Chicago → Nashville. November 9, 2022: Nashville acquired Chicago Fire's natural second-round selection and $175,000 in General Allocation Money in exchange for an international roster slot.[16]
- Round 3
- No. 65: Atlanta → Nashville. June 22, 2022: Nashville acquired Atlanta United's natural third-round selection and $175,000 in General Allocation Money in exchange for an international roster slot.[18]
- No. 66: Kansas City → New York City FC. June 22, 2022: New York City FC acquired Sporting Kansas City's natural third-round selection.
- No. 67: Seattle → Chicago. February 14, 2022: Chicago acquired Seattle Sounders's natural third-round selection in exchange for the College Protected Period Priority for Jackson Ragen.[19]
- No. 72: Columbus → Austin. December 23, 2021: Austin acquired Columbus Crew's natural third-round selection in exchange for switching draft positions in the 2022 MLS Re-Entry Draft.[20]
- No. 75: Orlando → Montréal. January 25, 2022: Montréal acquired Orlando City's natural third-round selection and $200,000 in General Allocation Money in exchange for an international roster slot.[21]
- No. 76: Miami → Chicago. January 25, 2022: Chicago acquired Inter Miami's natural third-round selection.
- No. 77: Minnesota → LA Galaxy. November 7, 2022: LA Galaxy acquired Minnesota United's natural third-round selection and $75,000 in General Allocation Money in exchange for Cameron Dunbar.[22]
- No. 84: NYCFC → Nashville. November 17, 2022: Nashville acquired New York City FC's natural third-round selection/
- No. 85: Austin → Portland. November 7, 2022: Austin acquired Portland Timbers's natural third-round selection/
- Compensatory picks
- No. 88: Salt Lake → Portland. June 9, 2020: Portland acquired Real Salt Lake's pick via trade for Ryan Sierakowski
References
- "MLS Announces Full Calendar of Offseason Roster Building Events" (Press release). Major League Soccer. September 15, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- Fuhrmeister, Chris (November 15, 2019). "MLS to get rid of live SuperDraft in 2020". Pro Soccer USA. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
- Rueter, Jeff; Stejskal, Sam (November 18, 2020). "MLS will trim 2021 SuperDraft to three rounds from four: Sources". The Athletic. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
- Young, Jabari (July 17, 2020). "Major League Soccer to delay debuts of 3 expansion franchises due to coronavirus". CNBC. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
- "Charlotte FC Trades for #1 Overall Selection in 2023 MLS SuperDraft and Selects Defender Hamady Diop". Charlottefootballclub.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- "DC United acquire Ruan from Orlando City for No. 2 MLS SuperDraft pick". MLSsoccer.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- Bogert, Tom (July 8, 2022). "Toronto FC acquire Mark-Anthony Kaye in blockbuster trade from Colorado Rapids". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
- "MLS Draft Tracker". MLSsoccer.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- "Orlando City SC Acquires 2023 First Round Draft Pick, General Allocation Money and Discovery Priority from Chicago Fire FC". orlandocitysc.com. May 5, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
- "Nashville SC send two int'l slots to Charlotte FC for $500K allocation money". NashvilleSC.com. December 12, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- "Live Blog: Follow the Rapids' picks in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft". December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- "Austin FC select midfielder CJ Fodrey after SuperDraft trade with Houston Dynamo". MLSsoccer.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- "Austin FC select midfielder Valentin Noel after SuperDraft trade with St. Louis CITY SC". MLSsoccer.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- "CF Montréal acquire Aaron Herrera in trade with Real Salt Lake". MLSsoccer.com. December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
- "Vancouver Whitecaps acquire defender Tristan Blackmon in Expansion Draft trade". MLSSoccer.com. December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Chicago Fire FC Acquires 2023 International Roster Slot from Nashville SC". chicagofirefc.com. November 9, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Statement from Orlando City SC on 2023 second-round draft pick Luis Grassow | Orlando City". orlandocitysc.
- "Nashville Soccer Club Trades International Spot to Atlanta United FC for $175K in General Allocation Money and a 2023 MLS SuperDraft Spot". nashvillesc.com. June 22, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Nashville Soccer Club Trades International Spot to Atlanta United FC for $175K in General Allocation Money and a 2023 MLS SuperDraft Spot". chicagofirefc.com. February 14, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Austin FC Acquires 2023 MLS SuperDraft Pick In Trade With Columbus Crew". austinfc.com. December 23, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Orlando City SC Acquires an International Roster Slot from CF Montréal". orlandocitysc.com. January 25, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- Tracy, Trebor (November 7, 2022). "LA Galaxy acquire third-round pick in trade with Minnesota United FC". lagconfidential.com. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- "Seattle Sounders sign homegrown goalkeeper Jacob Castro". MLSsoccer.com. December 14, 2022. Retrieved December 14, 2022.
- "New York Red Bulls Adds University of Connecticut Defender Jayden Reid on a Homegrown Deal". newyorkredbulls.com. December 21, 2022.
- Wilson, Amie (January 31, 2023). "Leicester City 'complete' deadline day signing of Nathan Opoku". Leicestershire Live. Retrieved January 31, 2023.