Designated Player Rule

Steven Gerrard, LA Galaxy's former Designated Player

The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule,^[1] was adopted as part of the salary cap regulations of Major League Soccer for the 2007 season. The rule allows each MLS franchise to sign up to three players that would be considered outside the team's salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee for the player), allowing MLS teams to compete for star players in the international soccer market. Clubs have the option to use allocation money against a player's contract, so to avoid a player with a Designated Player level salary using one of the club's Designated Player slots. As of December 2015, there have been 114 designated players in the MLS.

The rule is informally named after 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 signed under this rule, signing a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy with guaranteed annual salary of $6.5 million.^[3][4]

Contents

• 
  1 History
  


• 
  2 Background
  


• 
  3 Current Designated Players
  


• 
  4 Club DP history
  
  
  
  • 
    4.1 Atlanta United FC
    
  
  
  • 
    4.2 Chicago Fire
    
  
  
  • 
    4.3 Chivas USA (defunct)
    
  
  
  • 
    4.4 FC Cincinnati
    
  
  
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    4.5 Colorado Rapids
    
  
  
  • 
    4.6 Columbus Crew SC
    
  
  
  • 
    4.7 D.C. United
    
  
  
  • 
    4.8 FC Dallas
    
  
  
  • 
    4.9 Houston Dynamo
    
  
  
  • 
    4.10 LA Galaxy
    
  
  
  • 
    4.11 Los Angeles FC
    
  
  
  • 
    4.12 Minnesota United FC
    
  
  
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    4.13 Montreal Impact
    
  
  
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    4.14 New England Revolution
    
  
  
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    4.15 New York City FC
    
  
  
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    4.16 New York Red Bulls
    
  
  
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    4.17 Orlando City SC
    
  
  
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    4.18 Philadelphia Union
    
  
  
  • 
    4.19 Portland Timbers
    
  
  
  • 
    4.20 Real Salt Lake
    
  
  
  • 
    4.21 San Jose Earthquakes
    
  
  
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    4.22 Seattle Sounders FC
    
  
  
  • 
    4.23 Sporting Kansas City
    
  
  
  • 
    4.24 Toronto FC
    
  
  
  • 
    4.25 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  5 Past and present Designated Players by country
  


• 
  6 See also
  


• 
  7 References
  


• 
  8 External links
  

History

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]

Background

David Beckham

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]

Current Designated Players

As of February 5, 2019^[13]

Year signed as DP	Player	Nation	Current club	2018 Guaranteed compensation[14]
2012	Federico Higuaín	ARG	Columbus Crew SC	$1,100,000
2013	Diego Valeri	ARG	Portland Timbers	$2,380,000
2014	Michael Bradley	USA	Toronto FC	$6,500,000
2014	Ignacio Piatti	ARG	Montreal Impact	$4,713,333
2014	Fanendo Adi	NGR	FC Cincinnati	$1,933,333
2015	Jozy Altidore	USA	Toronto FC	$5,000,000
2015	Giovani dos Santos	MEX	LA Galaxy	$6,000,000
2016	Bradley Wright-Phillips	ENG	New York Red Bulls	$1,635,000
2016	Carlos Gruezo	ECU	FC Dallas	$730,750
2016	Shkëlzen Gashi	ALB	Colorado Rapids	$1,668,750
2016	Roger Espinoza	HND	Sporting Kansas City	$900,000
2016	Tim Howard	USA	Colorado Rapids	$2,475,000
2016	Nicolás Lodeiro	URY	Seattle Sounders FC	$2,302,500
2016	Alejandro Bedoya	USA	Philadelphia Union	$1,266,250
2016	Sacha Kljestan	USA	Orlando City	$1,100,000
2017	Chris Wondolowski	USA	San Jose Earthquakes	$800,000
2017	Nemanja Nikolić	HUN	Chicago Fire	$1,906,333
2017	Alberth Elis	HND	Houston Dynamo	$650,340
2017	Albert Rusnák	SVK	Real Salt Lake	$927,821
2017	Cristian Colmán	PAR	FC Dallas	$585,000
2017	Romain Alessandrini	FRA	LA Galaxy	$1,869,996
2017	Josef Martínez	VEN	Atlanta United FC	$1,387,318
2017	Sebastián Blanco	ARG	Portland Timbers	$1,375,008
2017	Maximiliano Moralez	ARG	New York City FC	$2,000,000
2017	Bastian Schweinsteiger	GER	Chicago Fire	$6,100,000
2017	Jefferson Savarino	VEN	Real Salt Lake	$398,688
2017	Valeri Qazaishvili	GEO	San Jose Earthquakes	$1,454,042
2017	Tomás Martínez	ARG	Houston Dynamo	$487,929
2017	Jonathan dos Santos	MEX	LA Galaxy	$2,000,000
2017	Pedro Santos	POR	Columbus Crew SC	$794,600
2017	Paul Arriola	USA	D.C. United	$639,000
2018	Dom Dwyer	USA	Orlando City	$1,383,333
2018	Carlos Vela	MEX	Los Angeles FC	$6,292,500
2018	Diego Rossi	URU	Los Angeles FC	$1,052,000
2018	Yohan Croizet	FRA	Sporting Kansas City	$680,004
2018	Jesús Medina	PAR	New York City FC	$770,833
2018	Josué Colmán	PAR	Orlando City	$150,000
2018	Ezequiel Barco	ARG	Atlanta United FC	$1,425,000
2018	Saphir Taïder	ALG	Montreal Impact	$800,000
2018	Milton Valenzuela	ARG	Columbus Crew SC	$313,300
2018	Felipe Gutiérrez	CHI	Sporting Kansas City	$1,650,000
2018	Santiago Mosquera	COL	FC Dallas	$541,400
2018	Alejandro Romero Gamarra	PAR	New York Red Bulls	$709,091
2018	André Horta	POR	Los Angeles FC	$1,198,000
2018	Darwin Quintero	COL	Minnesota United FC	$1,650,000
2018	Wayne Rooney	ENG	D.C. United	$2,776,731
2018	Raúl Ruidíaz	PER	Seattle Sounders FC	$2,000,004
2018	Ángelo Rodríguez	COL	Minnesota United FC	$657,188
2019	Zlatan Ibrahimović	SWE	LA Galaxy	$n/a
2019	Ján Greguš	SVK	Minnesota United FC	$n/a
2019	Bryan Acosta	HND	FC Dallas	$n/a
2019	Pity Martínez	ARG	Atlanta United FC	$n/a
2019	Carles Gil	ESP	New England Revolution	$n/a
2019	Hwang In-beom	KOR	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$n/a
2019	Alexandru Mitriță	ROU	New York City FC	$n/a
2019	Sam Johnson	LBR	Real Salt Lake	$n/a
2019	Marco Fabián	MEX	Philadelphia Union	$n/a
2019	Joaquín Ardaiz	URU	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$n/a
2019	Allan Cruz	CRC	FC Cincinnati	$n/a
2019	Nani	POR	Orlando City	$n/a

Notes

• L - Player is away on loan


• 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.^[15]
  


• Player salaries include compensation from their MLS contract, not including any bonuses or compensation from contracts with individual teams or their affiliates.

Club DP history

As of August 22, 2017^[16]

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–

Chicago Fire

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Cuauhtémoc Blanco	Club 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–
Bastian Schweinsteiger	Manchester United	2017–

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–

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
Jermaine Jones	New England Revolution	2016
Shkëlzen Gashi	FC Basel	2016–
Tim Howard	Everton	2016–

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–
Kei Kamara	Middlesbrough	2016
Jonathan Mensah	Anzhi Makhachkala	2017
Pedro Santos	Braga	2017–
Milton Valenzuela	Newell's Old Boys	2018–

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–

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–
Aníbal Chalá	El Nacional	2017
Cristian Colmán	Nacional Asunción	2017–
Santiago Mosquera	Millonarios	2018–
Bryan Acosta	Tenerife	2019–

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–
Tomás Martínez	Braga	2017–

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–
Jelle Van Damme	Standard Liège	2016–2017[17]
Romain Alessandrini	Marseille	2017–
Jonathan dos Santos	Villarreal	2017–
Zlatan Ibrahimović	Manchester United	2019–

Los Angeles FC

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

Minnesota United FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Darwin Quintero	América	2018–
Ángelo Rodríguez	Deportes Tolima	2018–
Ján Greguš	Copenhagen	2019–

Montreal Impact

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

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	FC Sion	2016
Xavier Kouassi	FC Sion	2016–2017
Kei Kamara	Columbus Crew SC	2016–2017
Claude Dielna	Sheffield Wednesday	2018
Carles Gil	Deportivo de La Coruña	2019–

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–

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–
Gonzalo Verón	San Lorenzo	2015–2017
Sacha Kljestan	R.S.C. Anderlecht	2016–2017
Omer Damari	RB Leipzig	2016
Alejandro Romero Gamarra	Huracán	2018–

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–
Sacha Kljestan	New York Red Bulls	2018–
Josué Colmán	Cerro Porteño	2018–
Nani	Sporting CP	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–
Bořek Dočkal	Henan Jianye	2018
Marco Fabián	Eintracht Frankfurt	2019–

Portland Timbers

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Diego Chará	Deportes Tolima	2011–2013
Kris Boyd	Eskişehirspor	2012
Diego Valeri	Lanús	2013–
Fanendo Adi	Copenhagen	2014–2015, 2016–2018
Liam Ridgewell	West Bromwich Albion	2014–2016
Lucas Melano	Lanús	2015–2016
Sebastián Blanco	San Lorenzo	2017–

Real Salt Lake

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Álvaro Saborío	FC Sion	2011–2015
Javier Morales	UD 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–
Sam Johnson	Vålerenga	2019–

San Jose Earthquakes

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

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–

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–
Diego Rubio	Valladolid	2016
Gerso Fernandes	Belenenses	2017
Yohan Croizet	KV Mechelen	2018–
Felipe Gutiérrez	Real Betis	2018–

Toronto FC

Player	Previous club	Years as DP
Julian de Guzman	Deportivo de La Coruña	2009–2012
Mista	Deportivo de 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–
Jermain Defoe	Tottenham Hotspur	2014–2015
Sebastian Giovinco	Juventus	2015–2018
Jozy Altidore	Sunderland	2015–

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	2017
Brek Shea	Orlando City	2017–2018
Kendall Waston	Saprissa	2018
Hwang In-beom	Daejeon Citizen	2019–
Joaquín Ardaiz	Chiasso	2019–

Past and present Designated Players by country

Number	Country	Players
28	Argentina	Ezequiel Barco, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Hernán Bernardello, Claudio Bieler, Sebastián Blanco, Milton Caraglio, Mauro Diaz, Fabián Espíndola, Marcelo Gallardo, Federico Higuaín, Sebastián Jaime, Matías Laba, Claudio López, Cristian Maidana, Juan Manuel Martinez, Pity Martínez, Tomás Martínez, Lucas Melano, Javier Morales, Maximiliano Moralez, Lucas Ontivero, Matías Pérez García, Ignacio Piatti, Juan Edgardo Ramírez, Mauro Rosales, Diego Valeri, Gonzalo Verón, Milton Valenzuela
20	United States	Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Paul Arriola, DaMarcus Beasley, Kyle Beckerman, Alejandro Bedoya, Matt Besler, Michael Bradley, Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Dom Dwyer, Maurice Edu, Omar Gonzalez, Tim Howard, Eddie Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Claudio Reyna, Brek Shea, Chris Wondolowski, Graham Zusi
10	Colombia	Juan Pablo Ángel, Fabián Castillo, Diego Chará, Andrés Ramiro Escobar, David Ferreira, Mauro Manotas, Fredy Montero, Santiago Mosquera, Darwin Quintero, Ángelo Rodríguez
10	Mexico	Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Omar Bravo, Nery Castillo, Luis Ángel Landín, Rafael Márquez, Giovani dos Santos, Jonathan dos Santos, Marco Fabián, Erick Torres, Carlos Vela
8	Brazil	Denílson, Luciano Emilio, Geovanni, Gilberto, Jéferson, Kaká, Kléberson, Rafael
8	Uruguay	Joaquín Ardaiz, Álvaro Fernández, Nicolás Lodeiro, Federico Puppo, Egidio Arévalo Rios, Octavio Rivero, Diego Rossi, David Texeira
7	England	David Beckham, Jermain Defoe, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Liam Ridgewell, Wayne Rooney, Bradley Wright-Phillips
7	Honduras	Bryan Acosta, Jerry Bengtson, Alberth Elis, Roger Espinoza, Óscar Boniek García, Alexander López, Bryan Róchez
7	Paraguay	Miguel Almirón, Josué Colmán, Cristian Colmán, Alejandro Romero Gamarra, Jesús Medina, Nelson Haedo Valdez, Héctor Villalba
5	Ecuador	Juan Luis Anangonó, Aníbal Chalá, Carlos Gruezo, Oswaldo Minda, Joao Plata
5	France	Romain Alessandrini, Yohan Croizet, Claude Dielna, Eric Hassli, Thierry Henry
4	Germany	Torsten Frings, Frank Rost, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Christian Tiffert
4	Portugal	José Gonçalves, André Horta, Nani, Pedro Santos
4	Scotland	Kris Boyd, Shaun Maloney, Kenny Miller, Barry Robson
3	Chile	Felipe Gutiérrez, Pedro Morales, Diego Rubio
3	Costa Rica	Allan Cruz, Álvaro Saborío, Kendall Waston
3	Italy	Marco Di Vaio, Sebastian Giovinco, Andrea Pirlo
3	Nigeria	Fanendo Adi, Kennedy Igboananike, Obafemi Martins
3	Peru	Andrés Mendoza, Raúl Ruidíaz, Yoshimar Yotún
3	Spain	Carles Gil, Mista, David Villa
3	Sweden	Magnus Eriksson, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Freddie Ljungberg
3	Switzerland	Blerim Džemaili, Innocent Emeghara, Blaise Nkufo
3	Venezuela	Fernando Aristeguieta, Josef Martínez, Jefferson Savarino
2	Albania	Hamdi Salihi, Shkëlzen Gashi
2	Canada	Julian de Guzman, Dwayne De Rosario
2	Ghana	David Accam, Jonathan Mensah
2	Ireland	Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane
2	Ivory Coast	Didier Drogba, Xavier Kouassi
2	Jamaica	Giles Barnes, Simon Dawkins
2	Netherlands	Danny Koevermans, Sherjill MacDonald
2	Slovakia	Ján Greguš, Albert Rusnák
1	Algeria	Saphir Taïder
1	Armenia	Yura Movsisyan
1	Australia	Tim Cahill
1	Belgium	Jelle Van Damme
1	Cuba	Osvaldo Alonso
1	Czech Republic	Bořek Dočkal
1	Gambia	Mustapha Jarju
1	Georgia	Valeri Qazaishvili
1	Grenada	Shalrie Joseph
1	Guinea-Bissau	Gerso Fernandes
1	Hungary	Nemanja Nikolić
1	Israel	Omer Damari
1	Liberia	Sam Johnson
1	Montenegro	Branko Bošković
1	Panama	Gabriel Torres
1	Romania	Alexandru Mitriță
1	Sierra Leone	Kei Kamara
1	South Korea	Hwang In-beom

See also

• 
  Association football portal
  

• Allocation (MLS)


• Franchise player

References

1. 
   ^ ^abc Wahl, Grant (November 28, 2011). "Hollywood Ending: If this was indeed David Beckham's final game in MLS, he went out in style, carrying the Galaxy to a championship and affirming the value of star power in America". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved November 25, 2011. In the first four seasons of MLS's Beckham Rule, which allowed clubs to sign up to three designated players outside the salary cap, .....mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ ^ab Lansley, Pete (April 13, 2007). "Becks could be the next American idol". The Telegraph. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
   


3. 
   ^ ^ab "PlayersUnion". Mlsplayers.org. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
   


4. 
   ^ ^ab "Beckham hopes to make US history". BBC. January 12, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
   


5. 
   ^ Goff, Steven (April 26, 2006). "Palencia Has Richest MLS Salary". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
   


6. 
   ^ Mickle, Tripp (November 26, 2007). "Debate highlights MLS salary cap split". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
   


7. 
   ^ ^abc Bell, Jack (March 18, 2009). "In M.L.S., Designated Players Do Not Guarantee Great Expectations". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
   


8. 
   ^ "Galaxy, Milan, Inter wait on Becks". CNN. February 24, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
   


9. 
   ^
   "Fulham complete Johnson signing". BBC Sport. January 23, 2008. Archived from the original on January 27, 2008.
   


10. 
    ^ Mayers, Joshua (April 1, 2010). "Major League Soccer adds second DP slot, can purchase a third (league release)". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
    


11. 
    ^ "2012 MLS Roster Rules". mlssocer.com. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012.
    


12. 
    ^ "Roster Rules and Regulations". Major League Soccer. Retrieved May 11, 2015.
    


13. 
    ^ "A Look into NYCFC's 2014 Payroll (or "David Villa is making k")". Empire of Soccer. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
    


14. 
    ^ "2018 MLS Player Salaries". Major League Soccer Players Union.
    


15. 
    ^ "MLS Roster Rules and Regulations - MLSsoccer.com". Retrieved June 20, 2017.
    


16. 
    ^ "Former MLS Designated Players". Retrieved August 22, 2017.
    


17. 
    ^ "Jelle van Damme completes exit from LA Galaxy and joins Royal Antwerp".
    

External links

• Current Designated Players

v t e Major League Soccer
Seasons 2019 season Records and statistics 100 or more goals Hat-tricks Players Union Rivalry cups History U.S. Soccer Canada Soccer
Eastern Conference	Atlanta United FC Chicago Fire FC Cincinnati Columbus Crew SC D.C. United Montreal Impact New England Revolution New York City FC New York Red Bulls Orlando City SC Philadelphia Union Toronto FC
Western Conference	Colorado Rapids FC Dallas Houston Dynamo LA Galaxy Los Angeles FC Minnesota United FC Portland Timbers Real Salt Lake San Jose Earthquakes Seattle Sounders FC Sporting Kansas City Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Future teams	Inter Miami CF (2020) Nashville SC (2020) Austin FC (2021)
Former teams	Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996–2001) Miami Fusion (1998–2001) Chivas USA (2005–2014)
Personnel	Foreign Capped Designated Player Homegrown Player Generation Adidas Cup Transfers Coaches
Competition	MLS Cup Playoffs Champions SuperDraft Stadiums Attendance Television Broadcasters MLS Cup
Associated competitions	Supporters' Shield All-Star Game Homegrown Game CONCACAF Champions League Campeones Cup U.S. Open Cup Canadian Championship Reserve League eMLS Cup
Other	MLS performance in the CONCACAF Champions League
Category Portal Multimedia

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