Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, in addition to the senior roster, each team can carry a developmental roster of a certain number of young players whose contracts do not count against the

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...

. The allowable size of developmental rosters has varied throughout its existence: in the 2005 season, it grew to ten from a former limit of six, but for the 2009 season, it was reduced to a limit of four players. The developmental roster includes Generation adidas (known as ''Project-40'' before 2005) signees, Home-Grown Players, and other players (usually recent college graduates) 25 or younger, called developmental players. Except for the Generation adidas players, whose salaries have no limit and are negotiated individually with the league, developmental players are paid a salary well below the MLS minimum, currently pegged at around $32,504 per year. A player is graduated from the developmental roster to the senior roster at the team's discretion, a decision which usually results from a player passing the age limit or becoming an important member of the squad. Notable former developmental players include: Davy Arnaud,

Nat Borchers Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former professional association football, soccer player who played as a defender (association football), defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Ti ...

, Alejandro Moreno, Jack Jewsbury,

Chris Wondolowski Christopher Elliott Wondolowski (born January 28, 1983) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He was MLS's MLS Golden Boot, top scorer in the 2010 Major ...

and Troy Perkins.

Sources

2009 MLS Player Rules and Regulations Summary

References

{{Reflist Major League Soccer rules and regulations