MLS Reveals 2025 Roster-Building Events

Ahead of the MLS Cup playoffs, the league is working toward next season with roster-building events for 2025.

MLS prepares for the 2025 season / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Major League Soccer is already working toward the 2025 season with the current campaign nearing the conclusion of the regular season and the beginning of the playoffs.

This winter's roster-building events will look a little bit different compared to last year. Last winter, it was business as usual for the league. Now, the MLS Expansion Draft will be used to help round of the San Diego FC squad ahead of its 2025 inaugural season.

San Diego will have the opportunity to pick five eligible players from other MLS teams in the Expansion Draft. However, MLS teams can choose to protect 12 players under contract in their squad that San Diego can't select that takes place on Dec. 11.

MLS free agency kicks off on Dec. 12 right after the Expansion Draft. Several notable players that are currently set for free agency include LAFC trio Aaron Long, Jesús Murillo and Ilie Sánchez, New England Revolution center-back Tim Parker and Seattle Sounders' duo João Paulo and Albert Rusnák.

The 2025 MLS SuperDraft, in which teams select eligible players from colleges across the United States and Canada, is slated for Dec. 20. Since San Diego is the newest MLS team, it will have the first pick in each round with the remaining order being determined on how teams finished in the Western and Eastern Conference playoffs.

MLS 2025 Roster-Building Events

• Wednesday, Nov. 27 – Deadline to Exercise Options and Bona Fide Offers
• Monday, Dec. 9 – Half-Day Trade Window
• Wednesday, Dec. 11 – Expansion Draft
• Thursday, Dec. 12 – Beginning of Free Agency
• Friday, Dec. 20 – 2025 SuperDraft

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