Designated Player Rule

The team salary cap was estimated to be around US$1.9 million in 2006,[5] was $2.1 million in 2007, and was raised to $2.3 million for the 2008 season.[6][7] As part of the 2010 Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLS and the MLS Players' Union, the 2010 salary cap was $2.55 million, with an automatic five percent increase each year until the expiration of the agreement at the end of the 2014 season.

Under the 2007 rule:

• The rule expires at the end of the 2009 season, and must be renewed then or allowed to lapse.
• For each Designated Player, $400,000[7][8] of his salary is charged to the salary cap and paid by the league, with any remaining salary being paid by the team's owner. This value was increased for the 2009 season to $415,000.
• Prior to the 2007 season, there were three players whose salary exceeded $400,000. These players were Landon Donovan, Carlos Ruiz and Eddie Johnson. According to the rule, these players were grandfathered in for the 2007 season, and the exemption was extended after the 2007 season, with the league planning to review the issue at a future date. It was possible that the league would be required to renegotiate these players' contracts or consider them Designated Players. However, prior to the start of the 2008 season, Johnson moved to Fulham of the Premier League,[9] while following Dwayne De Rosario's signing by Toronto FC in January 2009, Ruiz was released by the club and left MLS to play for Olimpia Asunción. This left Donovan as the lone player whose 2009 salary remained grandfathered under the exemption provision. However, there were several more players whose guaranteed salary exceeded the Designated Player amount, but whose salary cap expense was actually lower than their true salary due to the allocation rule. These players include Shalrie Joseph ($450,000), Christian Gomez ($430,000), Dwayne De Rosario ($425,750), and Taylor Twellman ($420,000).
• Each team initially had one Designated Player spot, but could trade their Designated Spot to another team; teams were allowed a maximum of two Designated Players.
• Only $325,000 of a team's second Designated Player counted against the salary cap, which was increased to $335,000 in 2009.[7]

The 2010 changes:[10]

• The rule has no expiration date.
• For each Designated Player, $335,000 of his salary is charged to the salary cap and paid by the league ($167,500 for DP players joining during the MLS summer transfer window), with any remaining salary being paid by the team's owner. This amount is halved for Designated Players signed in the middle of the season. The salary cap value of Designated Players can also be reduced using allocation money. Finally, teams whose Designated Players transfer abroad in the middle of a season can recoup part of the Designated Players' salary cap value.
• Landon Donovan is no longer grandfathered into the rule and must be considered a Designated Player.
• Each team is allowed two Designated Player spots, and they can no longer trade their Designated Player spots. The New York Red Bulls will receive $70,000 in allocation money in return for the nullification of their 2007 trade with Chivas USA for an additional Designated Player spot. This means that both New York and Chivas USA will have two Designated Player spots for the 2010 season.
• Teams can pay a $250,000 "luxury tax" for the right to sign a third Designated Player. This $250,000 would be distributed equally to all MLS teams that have not signed a third Designated Player in the form of allocation money.

The 2012 changes:[11]

Starting with the 2012 season, the rule was changed with respect to younger players. MLS announced the changes in August 2011 after clubs expressed concern about signing young international players with no guarantees that they would develop into stars.

• Designated Players over the age of 23 will carry a salary budget charge of $350,000, unless the player joins his club in the middle of the season, in which case his budget charge will be $175,000.
• Designated Players 21–23 years old count as $200,000 against the club's salary budget.
• Designated Players 20 years old or younger count as $150,000 against the club's salary budget.
• The budget charge for the midseason signing of a young Designated Player (23 years old and younger) is $150,000 and this amount cannot be lowered with allocation funds.
• Clubs will not have to buy the third DP roster slot to accommodate Designated Players 23 years old and younger.
• Age of player is determined by year (not date) of birth.

The maximum budget charge for Designated Players over age 23 was increased to $368,750 for 2013, $387,500 in 2014, $436,250 in 2015, $457,500 in 2016, and $480,625 in 2017. The budget charge for those who join during the midseason transfer window has remained at one-half of the full-season cap charge since the inception of the rule. The budget charges for younger players have not changed since 2012.[12]

The rule is informally named after soccer star David Beckham, in anticipation of MLS teams signing lucrative deals with internationally recognized players of Beckham's caliber.[1][2] Beckham was the first player to be signed under this rule, signing a lucrative contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy worth up to $250 million over five years, with direct guaranteed compensation from MLS and Galaxy at $6.5 million a year.[3] The rest of Beckham's increased earnings would come from Beckham regaining the entirety of his image rights, of which Real Madrid had owned fifty percent, effectively doubling his existing endorsement income, as well as new endorsement deals, a share of jersey sales, bonuses, etc.[4]

As of September 18, 2020[13]

Year signed as DP	Player	Nationality	Current club	2019 guaranteed compensation[14]
2015	Jozy Altidore		Toronto FC	$6,332,250
2016	Nicolás Lodeiro		Seattle Sounders FC	$2,502,500
2017	Albert Rusnák		Real Salt Lake	$2,001,667
2017	Josef Martínez		Atlanta United	$3,058,333
2017	Sebastián Blanco		Portland Timbers	$1,375,008
2017	Maximiliano Moralez		New York City FC	$2,000,000
2017	Jonathan dos Santos		LA Galaxy	$2,000,000
2017	Pedro Santos		Columbus Crew SC	$864,560
2017	Paul Arriola		D.C. United	$707,000
2018	Carlos Vela		Los Angeles FC	$6,300,000
2018	Diego Rossi		Los Angeles FC	$1,052,000
2018	Jesús Medina		New York City FC	$870,833
2018	Ezequiel Barco		Atlanta United	$1,425,000
2018	Kaku		New York Red Bulls	$800,000
2018	Raúl Ruidíaz		Seattle Sounders FC	$1,800,000
2019	Johnny Russell		Sporting Kansas City	$1,700,000
2019	Ján Greguš		Minnesota United	$883,500
2019	Bryan Acosta		FC Dallas	$650,000
2019	Carles Gil		New England Revolution	$2,337,500
2019	Allan Cruz		FC Cincinnati	$333,125
2019	Nani		Orlando City	$2,486,250
2019	Alejandro Pozuelo		Toronto FC	$3,800,000
2019	Gyasi Zardes		Columbus Crew SC	$1,471,667
2019	Ali Adnan		Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$1,277,500
2019	Gustavo Bou		New England Revolution	$2,100,000
2019	Mauricio Pereyra		Orlando City	$1,078,000
2019	Thomás Chacón		Minnesota United	$337,000
2020	Matías Pellegrini		Inter Miami	$170,833
2020	Hany Mukhtar[15]		Nashville SC	$n/a
2020	Randall Leal		Nashville SC	$n/a
2020	Alan Pulido		Sporting Kansas City	$n/a
2020	Cristian Espinoza		San Jose Earthquakes	$n/a
2020	Lucas Cavallini		Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$n/a
2020	Adam Buksa		New England Revolution	$n/a
2020	Lucas Zelarayán		Columbus Crew SC	$n/a
2020	Yimmi Chará		Portland Timbers	$n/a
2020	Yuya Kubo		FC Cincinnati	$n/a
2020	Jamiro Monteiro		Philadelphia Union	$671,200
2020	Edison Flores		D.C. United	$n/a
2020	Younes Namli		Colorado Rapids	$n/a
2020	Robert Berić		Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020	Javier Hernández		LA Galaxy	$n/a
2020	Franco Jara		FC Dallas	$n/a
2020	Jarosław Niezgoda		Portland Timbers	$n/a
2020	João Paulo		Seattle Sounders FC	$n/a
2020	Jürgen Locadia		FC Cincinnati	$n/a
2020	Jeizon Ramírez		Real Salt Lake	$n/a
2020	Rodolfo Pizarro		Inter Miami	$n/a
2020	Ignacio Aliseda		Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020	Gastón Giménez		Chicago Fire	$n/a
2020	Victor Wanyama		Montreal Impact	$n/a
2020	Dru Yearwood		New York Red Bulls	$n/a
2020	Emanuel Reynoso		Minnesota United	$n/a
2020	Jhonder Cádiz		Nashville SC	$n/a
2020	Gonzalo Higuaín		Inter Miami	$n/a
2020	Marcelino Moreno		Atlanta United	$n/a
2021	Cecilio Domínguez		Austin FC	$n/a

Notes

• Chart indicates when players signed their current Designated Player contract, not necessarily their first year in MLS.
• Other players in MLS may also be paid a salary that takes them above the Designated Player threshold, but they have had their salary reduced against the salary cap using General or Targeted Allocation Money.[16]
• Player salaries may be below the Designated Player threshold, but their transfer fee might mean the total compensation takes them above the threshold.
• Player salaries include compensation from their MLS contract, not including any bonuses or compensation from contracts with individual teams or their affiliates.

As of August 12, 2020[17]

Notes

• The below list indicates players who have had their contract assigned as a Designated Player (DP) contract during their time in MLS. Players may have not always have had a DP contract, or have later had their contract negotiated below a DP level. Similarly, some players have been in MLS whose salary has been at a DP level, but the club has opted to bring their salary below the DP threshold using General Allocation Money or Targeted Allocation Money. Their listed "Years as DP" indicates what seasons they were active as a DP for that club only. Players in bold are currently signed to a DP contract by their club.
• Former MLS sides Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were dissolved before the introduction of the Designated Player Rule.

Atlanta United FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Héctor Villalba	San Lorenzo	2017
Miguel Almirón	Lanús	2017–2018
Josef Martínez	Torino	2017–
Ezequiel Barco	Independiente	2018–
Pity Martínez	River Plate	2019–2020
Marcelino Moreno	Lanús	2020–

Austin FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Cecilio Domínguez	Independiente	2021–

Chicago Fire

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Cuauhtémoc Blanco	América	2007–2009
Freddie Ljungberg	Seattle Sounders FC	2010
Nery Castillo	Shakhtar Donetsk	2010
Álvaro Fernández	Seattle Sounders FC	2012–2013
Sherjill MacDonald	Germinal Beerschot	2012–2013
Federico Puppo	Danubio	2012–2014
Egidio Arévalo Ríos	Tijuana	2013
Juan Luis Anangonó	El Nacional	2013–2014
Gilberto	Toronto FC	2015–2016
David Accam	Helsingborg	2015–2017
Shaun Maloney	Wigan Athletic	2015
Kennedy Igboananike	AIK	2015–2016
Nemanja Nikolić	Legia Warsaw	2017–2019
Bastian Schweinsteiger	Manchester United	2017–2019
Aleksandar Katai	Alavés	2019
Robert Berić	Saint-Étienne	2020–
Ignacio Aliseda	Defensa y Justicia	2020–
Gastón Giménez	Vélez Sarsfield	2020–

Chivas USA (defunct)

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Juan Pablo Ángel	LA Galaxy	2011–2012
Oswaldo Minda	Deportivo Quito	2012–2014
Shalrie Joseph	New England Revolution	2012
Erick Torres	Guadalajara	2013–2014
Mauro Rosales	Seattle Sounders FC	2014

FC Cincinnati

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Fanendo Adi	Portland Timbers	2019
Allan Cruz	Herediano	2019–
Yuya Kubo	Gent	2020–
Jürgen Locadia	Brighton & Hove Albion	2020–

Colorado Rapids

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Gabriel Torres	Zamora	2013–2015
Juan Edgardo Ramírez	Argentinos Juniors	2015–2017
Kevin Doyle	Wolverhampton Wanderers	2015–2016
Shkëlzen Gashi	Basel	2016–2018
Tim Howard	Everton	2016–2019
Younes Namli	Krasnodar	2020–

Columbus Crew SC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Guillermo Barros Schelotto	Boca Juniors	2009–2010
Andrés Mendoza	Diyarbakırspor	2010–2011
Federico Higuaín	Colón	2012–2019
Kei Kamara	Middlesbrough	2016
Jonathan Mensah	Anzhi Makhachkala	2017
Pedro Santos	Braga	2017–
Milton Valenzuela	Newell's Old Boys	2018–2019
Gyasi Zardes	LA Galaxy	2019–
Luis Díaz	Herediano	2019
Lucas Zelarayán	UANL	2020–

FC Dallas

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Denílson	Al-Nassr	2007
David Ferreira	Atlético Paranaense	2009–2013
Fabián Castillo	Deportivo Cali	2011–2015
Julian de Guzman	Toronto FC	2012
Eric Hassli	Toronto FC	2013
Mauro Díaz	River Plate	2013–2016
Andrés Escobar	Dynamo Kyiv	2014
David Texeira	Groningen	2014–2015
Carlos Gruezo	VfB Stuttgart	2016–2018
Aníbal Chalá	El Nacional	2017
Cristian Colmán	Nacional Asunción	2017–2018
Santiago Mosquera	Millonarios	2018–2020
Bryan Acosta	Tenerife	2019–
Pablo Aránguiz	Unión Española	2019
Franco Jara	Pachuca	2020–

D.C. United

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Luciano Emílio	Olimpia	2008–2009
Marcelo Gallardo	Paris Saint-Germain	2008
Branko Bošković	Rapid Wien	2010–2012
Dwayne De Rosario	New York Red Bulls	2011–2013
Hamdi Salihi	Rapid Wien	2012
Rafael	Bahia	2013
Eddie Johnson	Seattle Sounders FC	2014–2015
Fabián Espíndola	New York Red Bulls	2015–2016
Paul Arriola	Tijuana	2017–
Wayne Rooney	Everton	2018–2019
Lucas Rodríguez	Estudiantes	2019
Edison Flores	Morelia	2020–

Houston Dynamo

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Luis Ángel Landín	Morelia	2009–2010
Boniek García	Olimpia	2012–2014
Giles Barnes	Doncaster Rovers	2012–2016
Alexander López	Olimpia	2013–2014
DaMarcus Beasley	Puebla	2014–2016
Mauro Manotas	Uniautónoma	2015–2016
Erick Torres	Guadalajara	2015–2017
Alberth Elis	Monterrey	2017–2020
Tomás Martínez	Braga	2017–2020

Inter Miami CF

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Matías Pellegrini	Estudiantes	2020–
Rodolfo Pizarro	Monterrey	2020–
Gonzalo Higuaín	Juventus	2020–

LA Galaxy

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
David Beckham	Real Madrid	2007–2012
Landon Donovan	Bayer Leverkusen	2010–2014
Juan Pablo Ángel	New York Red Bulls	2011
Robbie Keane	Tottenham Hotspur	2011–2016
Omar Gonzalez	University of Maryland	2013–2015
Steven Gerrard	Liverpool	2015–2016
Giovani dos Santos	Villarreal	2015–2018
Jelle Van Damme	Standard Liège	2016–2017[18]
Romain Alessandrini	Marseille	2017–2019
Jonathan dos Santos	Villarreal	2017–
Zlatan Ibrahimović	Manchester United	2019
Cristian Pavón	Boca Juniors	2020
Javier Hernández	Sevilla	2020–

Los Angeles FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Carlos Vela	Real Sociedad	2018–
Diego Rossi	Peñarol	2018–
André Horta	Benfica	2018–2019
Brian Rodríguez	Peñarol	2019–2020

Minnesota United FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Darwin Quintero	América	2018–2019
Ángelo Rodríguez	Deportes Tolima	2018–2019
Ján Greguš	Copenhagen	2019–
Thomás Chacón	Danubio	2019–
Emanuel Reynoso	Boca Juniors	2020–

CF Montreal

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Marco Di Vaio	Bologna	2012–2014
Hernán Bernardello	Almería	2013–2014
Ignacio Piatti	San Lorenzo	2014–2019
Didier Drogba	Chelsea	2015–2016
Lucas Ontivero	Galatasaray	2016
Blerim Džemaili	Bologna	2017
Saphir Taïder	Bologna	2018–2020
Victor Wanyama	Tottenham Hotspur	2020–

Nashville SC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Hany Mukhtar[15]	Brøndby IF	2020–
Randall Leal	Saprissa	2020–
Jhonder Cádiz	Benfica	2020–

New England Revolution

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Milton Caraglio	Rosario Central	2011
Shalrie Joseph	New York Freedom	2012
Jerry Bengtson	Motagua	2012–2014
Jermaine Jones	Beşiktaş	2014–2015
José Gonçalves	Sion	2016
Xavier Kouassi	Sion	2016–2017
Kei Kamara	Columbus Crew SC	2016–2017
Claude Dielna	Sheffield Wednesday	2018
Carles Gil	Deportivo La Coruña	2019–
Gustavo Bou	Tijuana	2019–
Adam Buksa	Pogoń Szczecin	2020–

New York City FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
David Villa	Atlético Madrid	2014–2018
Frank Lampard	Manchester City	2015–2016
Andrea Pirlo	Juventus	2015–2017
Maximiliano Moralez	León	2017–
Jesús Medina	Libertad	2018–
Alexandru Mitriță	Universitatea Craiova	2019–2020

New York Red Bulls

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Claudio Reyna	Manchester City	2007–2008
Juan Pablo Ángel	Aston Villa	2007–2010
Thierry Henry	Barcelona	2010–2014
Rafael Márquez	Barcelona	2010–2012
Frank Rost	Hamburger SV	2011
Tim Cahill	Everton	2012–2014
Bradley Wright-Phillips	Charlton Athletic	2015–2016, 2017–2019
Gonzalo Verón	San Lorenzo	2015–2017
Sacha Kljestan	Anderlecht	2016–2017
Omer Damari	RB Leipzig	2016
Kaku	Huracán	2018–
Josh Sims	Southampton	2019–2020
Dru Yearwood	Brentford	2020–

Orlando City SC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Kaká	Milan	2014–2017
Carlos Rivas	Deportivo Cali	2015–2017
Bryan Róchez	Real España	2015–2016
Matías Pérez García	San Jose Earthquakes	2016–2017
Giles Barnes	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2017
Yoshimar Yotún	Malmö FF	2017
Dom Dwyer	Sporting Kansas City	2018–2020
Sacha Kljestan	New York Red Bulls	2018
Josué Colmán	Cerro Porteño	2018–2019
Nani	Sporting CP	2019–
Mauricio Pereyra	Krasnodar	2019–

Philadelphia Union

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Freddy Adu	Benfica	2011–2012
Kléberson	Bahia	2013
Cristian Maidana	Rangers de Talca	2014–2015
Maurice Edu	Stoke City	2014–2017
Fernando Aristeguieta	Nantes	2015
Alejandro Bedoya	Nantes	2016–2019
Bořek Dočkal	Henan Jianye	2018
Marco Fabián	Eintracht Frankfurt	2019
Jamiro Monteiro	Metz	2020–

Portland Timbers

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Diego Chará	Deportes Tolima	2011–2013
Kris Boyd	Eskişehirspor	2012
Diego Valeri	Lanús	2013–2019
Fanendo Adi	Copenhagen	2014–2015, 2016–2018
Liam Ridgewell	West Bromwich Albion	2014–2016
Lucas Melano	Lanús	2015–2016, 2019
Sebastián Blanco	San Lorenzo	2017–
Brian Fernández	Necaxa	2019
Yimmi Chará	Atlético Mineiro	2020–
Jarosław Niezgoda	Legia Warsaw	2020–

Real Salt Lake

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Álvaro Saborío	Sion	2011–2015
Javier Morales	Vecindario	2011–2015
Kyle Beckerman	Colorado Rapids	2015
Joao Plata	Toronto FC	2015–2016
Sebastián Jaime	Unión Española	2014–2015
Juan Manuel Martínez	Boca Juniors	2015–2016
Yura Movsisyan	Spartak Moscow	2016–2017
Albert Rusnák	Groningen	2017–
Jefferson Savarino	Zulia	2017–2019
Sam Johnson	Vålerenga	2019–2020
Jeizon Ramírez	Deportivo Táchira	2020–

San Jose Earthquakes

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Geovanni	Hull City	2010
Chris Wondolowski	Houston Dynamo	2013–2019
Matías Pérez García	Tigre	2014–2016
Innocent Emeghara	Qarabağ	2015–2016
Simon Dawkins	Derby County	2016–2017
Valeri Qazaishvili	Vitesse	2017–2020
Magnus Eriksson	Djurgårdens IF	2018
Cristian Espinoza	Villarreal	2020–

Seattle Sounders FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Freddie Ljungberg	West Ham United	2009–2010
Álvaro Fernández	Nacional	2010–2012
Blaise Nkufo	Twente	2010
Mauro Rosales	River Plate	2011–2013
Christian Tiffert	1. FC Kaiserslautern	2012–2013
Shalrie Joseph	Chivas USA	2013
Obafemi Martins	Levante	2013–2015
Clint Dempsey	Tottenham Hotspur	2013–2018
Osvaldo Alonso	Charleston Battery	2014–2018
Nelson Valdez	Eintracht Frankfurt	2015–2016
Nicolás Lodeiro	Boca Juniors	2016–
Raúl Ruidíaz	Morelia	2018–
Víctor Rodríguez	Sporting Gijón	2019
Xavier Arreaga	Barcelona SC	2019
João Paulo	Botafogo	2020–

Sporting Kansas City

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Claudio López	Racing Club	2008
Omar Bravo	Guadalajara	2011
Jéferson	Vasco da Gama	2011
Claudio Bieler	Liga de Quito	2013–2014
Matt Besler	University of Notre Dame	2014–2016
Graham Zusi	University of Maryland	2014–2017
Roger Espinoza	Wigan Athletic	2015–2018
Diego Rubio	Valladolid	2016
Gerso Fernandes	Belenenses	2017
Yohan Croizet	KV Mechelen	2018–2019
Felipe Gutiérrez	Real Betis	2018–2020
Johnny Russell	Derby County	2019–
Alan Pulido	Guadalajara	2020–

Toronto FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Julian de Guzman	Deportivo La Coruña	2009–2012
Mista	Deportivo La Coruña	2010
Danny Koevermans	PSV Eindhoven	2011–2013
Torsten Frings	Werder Bremen	2011–2012
Eric Hassli	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	2012
Matías Laba	Argentinos Juniors	2013
Gilberto	Internacional	2014
Michael Bradley	Roma	2014–2019
Jermain Defoe	Tottenham Hotspur	2014–2015
Sebastian Giovinco	Juventus	2015–2018
Jozy Altidore	Sunderland	2015–
Alejandro Pozuelo	Genk	2019–
Pablo Piatti	Espanyol	2020

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Eric Hassli	Zürich	2011–2012
Mustapha Jarju	R.A.E.C. Mons	2011
Barry Robson	Middlesbrough	2012
Kenny Miller	Cardiff City	2012–2014
Matías Laba	Toronto FC	2014–2017
Mauro Rosales	Chivas USA	2014
Pedro Morales	Málaga	2014–2016
Octavio Rivero	O'Higgins	2015–2016
Fredy Montero	Tianjin TEDA Sporting CP	2017 2019
Brek Shea	Orlando City	2017–2018
Kendall Waston	Saprissa	2018
Hwang In-beom	Daejeon Citizen	2019–2020
Joaquín Ardaiz	Chiasso	2019
Ali Adnan	Udinese	2019–
Lucas Cavallini	Puebla	2020–

• Allocation money
• Franchise player

• Designated Players glossary entry at MLSsoccer.com