MLS announced on Friday Nov. 22, 2019 the lists of players eligible for End-of-Year Waivers, Free Agency, and Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Process.
This year, MLS transitioned from a rolling calendar to a single announcement date in advance of these three postseason roster mechanisms, in order to add transparency to the disclosing of the contract status of all option-declined and out-of-contract players following Thursday’s option exercise deadline.
Key dates:
Monday, Nov. 25 at 3 pm ET: End-of-Year Waivers (“EOY Waivers”); Free Agency Begins
Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 3 p.m. ET: Re-Entry Stage 1
Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. ET: Re-Entry Stage 2
End-Of-Year Waiver List
The EOY Waivers process gives the clubs that finished at the bottom of the 2019 standings the first opportunities to select from out-of-contract, typically young players who have not met the minimum number of service years for Free Agency or the Re-Entry Process. Beginning in reverse order, and taking into account postseason performance, FC Cincinnati will select first. The 2019 MLS Cup champions Seattle Sounders will have the 24th pick, and expansion clubs Nashville SC and Inter Miami CF will have the 25th and 26th selections to end each round.
You can read more about the rules here.
| Club | Player |
|---|---|
| Atlanta | Chris Goslin |
| Atlanta | Jose Hernandez |
| Atlanta | Kevin Kratz |
| Atlanta | Patrick Okonkwo |
| Atlanta | Florentin Pogba |
| Chicago | Diego Campos |
| Chicago | Elliot Collier |
| Chicago | Nicolas Gaitan |
| Chicago | Aleksandar Katai |
| Chicago | Cristian Martinez |
| Chicago | Amando Moreno |
| Cincinnati | Nazmi Albadawi |
| Cincinnati | Justin Hoyte |
| Cincinnati | Forrest Lasso |
| Cincinnati | Emmanuel Ledesma |
| Columbus | Ben Lundgaard |
| Columbus | Edward Opoku |
| Columbus | Eduardo Sosa |
| Colorado | Sam Raben |
| Colorado | Tommy Smith |
| D.C. United | Antonio Bustamante |
| D.C. United | Leonardo Jara |
| D.C. United | Marquinhos Pedroso |
| FC Dallas | Edwin Gyasi |
| Houston | Kevin Garcia |
| LAFC | Lamar Batista |
| LAFC | Javier Perez |
| LAFC | Peter-Lee Vassell |
| LA Galaxy | Favio Alvarez |
| LA Galaxy | Hugo Arellano |
| LA Galaxy | Tomas Hilliard-Arce |
| LA Galaxy | Bradford Jamieson IV |
| Minnesota | Carter Manley |
| Minnesota | Wilfried Moimbe-Tahrat |
| Minnesota | Ally Ng’anzi |
| Montreal | Jason Beaulieu |
| Montreal | Omar Browne |
| Montreal | Daniel Kinumbe |
| Montreal | Ken Krolicki |
| Montreal | Thomas Meilleur-Giguere |
| Montreal | Bacary Sagna |
| Montreal | Jeisson Vargas |
| New England | Juan Caicedo |
| New England | Zachary Herivaux |
| NYCFC | Daniel Bedoya |
| NYCFC | Jeff Caldwell |
| NYCFC | Abdi Mohamed |
| NYCFC | Ebenezer Ofori |
| NY Red Bulls | Jean-Christophe Koffi |
| Orlando | Carlos Ascues |
| Orlando | Adam Grinwis |
| Orlando | Cam Lindley |
| Orlando | Greg Ranjitsingh |
| Orlando | Lamine Sane |
| Philadelphia | Marco Fabian |
| Philadelphia | Haris Medunjanin |
| Portland | Claude Dielna |
| Portland | Modou Jadama |
| Portland | Foster Langsdorf |
| Salt Lake | Danilo Acosta |
| San Jose | Harold Cummings |
| San Jose | Kevin Partida |
| Seattle | Alex Roldan |
| Sporting KC | Nicolas Hasler |
| Sporting KC | Gedion Zelalem |
| Toronto FC | Jon Bakero |
| Toronto FC | Aidan Daniels |
| Toronto FC | Ryan Telfer |
| Vancouver | Joaquin Ardaiz |
| Vancouver | Lass Bangoura |
| Vancouver | Brendan McDonough |
| Vancouver | Sean Melvin |
Free Agent List
Immediately following the End-of Year-Waivers process, Free Agency opens on Monday, Nov. 25 for players – who are at least age 28 with at least eight MLS service years and either option-declined or out-of-contract.
As their category suggests, free agents can negotiate a new contract with any MLS club, including their previous team, subject to certain restrictions. During a given year, clubs may acquire a maximum of two out-of-contract players via Free Agency. Free Agents may also participate in the Re-Entry Process.
This postseason, there are 39 MLS players who qualify for free agency. The list includes several well-known names, including Atlanta United’s Jeff Laurentowicz, Columbus’ Federico Higuaín and Toronto FC’s Michael Bradley.
You can read more about the rules here.
| Club | Player | |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Jeff Larentowicz | Out of Contract |
| Atlanta | Justin Meram | Option Decline |
| Atlanta | Michael Parkhurst | Out of Contract |
| Atlanta | Brek Shea | Out of Contract |
| Colorado | Tim Howard | Out of Contract |
| Columbus | Ricardo Clark | Out of Contract |
| Columbus | Federico Higuain | Out of Contract |
| D.C. United | Quincy Amarikwa | Out of Contract |
| D.C. United | Bill Hamid | Out of Contract |
| FC Dallas | Eric Alexander | Out of Contract |
| Houston | DaMarcus Beasley | Out of Contract |
| Houston | A.J. DeLaGarza | Out of Contract |
| Houston | Tyler Deric | Option Decline |
| LAFC | Steven Beitashour | Out of Contract |
| LAFC | Jordan Harvey | Out of Contract |
| LA Galaxy | Servando Carrasco | Option Decline |
| LA Galaxy | Matt Lampson | Option Decline |
| LA Galaxy | Juninho | Option Decline |
| LA Galaxy | Chris Pontius | Out of Contract |
| Minnesota | Sam Cronin | Option Decline |
| Minnesota | Lawrence Olum | Option Decline |
| Minnesota | Bobby Shuttleworth | Out of Contract |
| NashvilleSC | Jalil Anibaba | Out of Contract |
| NY Red Bulls | Connor Lade | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Luis Robles | Option Decline |
| Orlando | Will Johnson | Out of Contract |
| Orlando | Sacha Kljestan | Out of Contract |
| Philadelphia | Aurelien Collin | Out of Contract |
| Salt Lake | Kyle Beckerman | Out of Contract |
| Salt Lake | Tony Beltran | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | Nick Rimando | Out of Contract |
| Salt Lake | Kelyn Rowe | Out of Contract |
| Seattle | Chad Marshall | Option Decline |
| Sporting KC | Benny Feilhaber | Option Decline |
| Sporting KC | Seth Sinovic | Out of Contract |
| Sporting KC | Rodney Wallace | Option Decline |
| Toronto FC | Michael Bradley | Out of Contract |
| Toronto FC | Drew Moor | Option Decline |
| Toronto FC | Ashtone Morgan | Out of Contract |
Re-Entry List
The Re-Entry Process, Stage 1 begins on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 3 pm ET. Similar to the End-of-Year Waivers process, the Re-Entry process is conducted in the same reverse order of the 2019 season finish, keeping in mind postseason performance.
During the Re-Entry process, MLS clubs can select from three types of eligible players:
- Option-declined players who are at least 23 years old with a minimum of three service years;
- Out-of-contract players who are at least 25 years old with a minimum of four service years and whose clubs did not wish to re-sign at their previous salary;
- Free Agents that chose to participate.
The final postseason roster mechanism will be Stage 2 of the Re-Entry Process, which will be conducted on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The list of players eligible for Re-Entry, Stage 2 will be announced on Dec. 3 at 11 am ET.
You can read more about the rules here.
| Club | Player | |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | Mikey Ambrose | Out of Contract |
| Chicago | Stefan Cleveland | Option Decline |
| Chicago | David Ousted | Option Decline |
| Chicago | Richard Sanchez | Option Decline |
| Colorado | Kofi Opare | Option Decline |
| Colorado | Dillon Serna | Out of Contract |
| Columbus | Alex Crognale | Option Decline |
| Columbus | David Guzman | Option Decline |
| Columbus | Jordan Hamilton | Option Decline |
| Columbus | Connor Maloney | Option Decline |
| Columbus | Romario Williams | Out of Contract |
| D.C. United | Earl Edwards Jr. | Option Decline |
| D.C. United | Jalen Robinson | Out of Contract |
| Cincinnati | Corben Bone | Option Decline |
| Cincinnati | Roland Lamah | Option Decline |
| Cincinnati | Jimmy McLaughlin | Option Decline |
| Cincinnati | Blake Smith | Option Decline |
| FC Dallas | Cristian Colman | Option Decline |
| FC Dallas | Moises Hernandez | Option Decline |
| Houston | Eric Bird | Option Decline |
| Houston | Juan David Cabezas | Option Decline |
| Houston | Darwin Ceren | Out of Contract |
| LAFC | Dejan Jakovic | Option Decline |
| LA Galaxy | Joao Pedro | Option Decline |
| Minnesota | Miguel Ibarra | Option Decline |
| Minnesota | Collin Martin | Option Decline |
| Minnesota | Rasmus Schuller | Option Decline |
| Montreal | Anthony Jackson-Hamel | Option Decline |
| n/a | Charlie Lyon | Option Decline |
| n/a | Yura Movsisyan | Option Decline |
| New England | Juan Agudelo | Option Decline |
| New England | Cody Cropper | Out of Contract |
| New England | Brian Wright | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Vincent Bezecourt | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Marcus Epps | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Derrick Etienne | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Evan Louro | Option Decline |
| NY Red Bulls | Bradley Wright-Phillips | Out of Contract |
| NYCFC | Eric Miller | Option Decline |
| Orlando | Cristian Higuita | Out of Contract |
| Orlando | Shane O’Neill | Option Decline |
| Orlando | Dillon Powers | Option Decline |
| Orlando | Oriol Rosell | Option Decline |
| Philadelphia | R.J. Allen | Option Decline |
| Philadelphia | Fabinho | Option Decline |
| Portland | Kendall McIntosh | Option Decline |
| Portland | Diego Valeri | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | Jordan Allen | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | Alex Horwath | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | Luke Mulholland | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | João Plata | Option Decline |
| Salt Lake | Marcelo Silva | Option Decline |
| San Jose | Francois Affolter | Option Decline |
| San Jose | Jimmy Ockford | Option Decline |
| Seattle | Saad Abdul-Salaam | Option Decline |
| Seattle | Jonathan Campbell | Option Decline |
| Seattle | Victor Rodriguez | Option Decline |
| Seattle | Luis Silva | Option Decline |
| Seattle | Roman Torres | Option Decline |
| Sporting KC | Krisztian Nemeth | Out of Contract |
| Toronto FC | Caleb Patterson-Sewell | Option Decline |
| Vancouver | Victor Giro | Option Decline |
| Vancouver | Brett Levis | Out of Contract |
| Vancouver | Scott Sutter | Option Decline |
Source: MLS Communications with edits by Russo Soccer