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The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first-team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer would have to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.
MLS roster rules allow a team to sign players to contracts similar to Generation Adidas contracts, which do not count against the MLS salary budget and may earn a much higher salary than the league minimum. MLS has since removed this wording from the roster rules. That means homegrown players will not count against the salary budget only if they are registered using supplemental roster slots, but will still count against the salary budget if they are registered using senior roster slots. There is, however, a supplementary salary budget made by MLS only for homegrown players that are registered using senior roster slots called homegrown player funds.
To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year, as well as meeting other unspecified league requirements. The restrictions for homegrown players were modified in 2022 to allow clubs to prioritize signing rights of nine non-academy players within their territory. Non-protected players were then allowed to sign with any MLS club without requiring compensation to be paid to another team.
If a player on a team's homegrown list goes to college or U17, U20, and U23 United States men's national soccer teams, he remains eligible to sign as a homegrown player at any time as long as he is registered with the club as a homegrown player first. Since the program's inception, some players have elected to skip years in college to play in MLS academies and sign with senior clubs.
In 2014, Seattle's DeAndre Yedlin became the first MLS homegrown player to compete in a World Cup.
Homegrown territories
As of 2024[update], the homegrown territories for most MLS clubs is defined as a 75-mile (121 km) radius around the team's home stadium, with some exceptions when another team is nearby. Certain teams are also granted entire states or portions of adjacent states. San Diego FC is allowed to claim players from Mexico within a driving distance of 62.1-mile (99.9 km) from their training facility.
Homegrown players history
Notes
This list only includes players who were fully eligible to be a homegrown player and officially signed a homegrown player contract with MLS. This is not a list of academy players for each respective MLS team.
Players with their names in Bold have received a full international cap.
Former MLS sides Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were dissolved before the introduction of the homegrown player rule.
Tommy Thompson is currently 4th all-time in games played for the Earthquakes at over 200 appearances.Nick Lima has played over 175 games in MLS and earned 9 caps with the USMNT.
The following table shows the leading home grown player goal scorer by season. It also shows which club the player was with in that season, as well as the player's age at the end of that season.
