Homegrown Player Rule (MLS)

Home Grown Player is a player development program in Major League Soccer aimed at allowing clubs to develop locally-based players without exposing them to the auspices of the MLS SuperDraft. Such players are signed by clubs to Generation adidas contracts which do not count against the MLS salary cap and usually earn a much higher salary than the league minimum.

To be eligible for the program, players must have resided in the signing club's home territory (usually defined as a 75-mile radius from the club's home stadium) and have participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. The club then must place a Discovery Claim on that player. 17 of the 19 current MLS clubs have their own in-house "academies," while the Philadelphia Union and Portland Timbers outsource their youth development systems to other locally-based independent soccer clubs.

If a claimed player decides to go to college, for him to retain his Home Grown status he must have participated in a minimum of 80 games and/or training sessions with his youth club before departing for college. To retain his status while in college, the player must participate in a minimum of 30 games/training sessions with their previous club during their college career.

Those players who were named to a US or Canadian Youth National Team before joining an MLS club-affiliated youth development program are not eligible for the Home Grown Player program.

There is no limit to the number of Home Grown Players a club may sign in a given year, but each club may have no more than two Home Growns on their first-team roster.

Current Home Grown Players

Year Signed	Player	Nation	Current club	2012 Guaranteed Compensation
2010	Victor Pineda	USA	Chicago Fire	$50,842
2011	Kellen Gulley	USA	Chicago Fire	$69,000
2012	Ben Speas	USA	Columbus Crew	$58,000
2011	Aaron Horton	USA	Columbus Crew	$70,500
2012	Matt Lampson	USA	Columbus Crew	$44,000
2010	Andy Najar	HON	D.C. United	$180,800
2010	Ethan White	USA	D.C. United	$86,000
2010	Conor Shanosky	USA	D.C. United	$84,219
2009	Bill Hamid	USA	D.C. United	$84,750
2011	Josue Soto	USA	Houston Dynamo	$38,750
2011	Alex Dixon	USA	Houston Dynamo	$52,250
2009	Tyler Deric	USA	Houston Dynamo	$44,100
2010	Diego Fagundez	URU	New England Revolution	$56,000
2011	Connor Lade	USA	New York Red Bulls	$33,750
2012	Brent Richards	USA	Portland Timbers	$62,500
2012	Cristhian Hernández	MEX	Philadelphia Union	$54,375
2011	Jimmy McLaughlin	USA	Philadelphia Union	$57,000
2011	Zach Pfeffer	USA	Philadelphia Union	$70,000
2011	Kevin Ellis	USA	Sporting Kansas City	$44,000
2011	Jon Kempin	USA	Sporting Kansas City	$53,583
2010	Doneil Henry	CAN	Toronto FC	$45,100
2011	Ashtone Morgan	CAN	Toronto FC	$44,000
2011	Keith Makubuya	CAN	Toronto FC	$44,000
2011	Matt Stinson	CAN	Toronto FC	$44,000
2011	Oscar Cordon	CAN	Toronto FC	$44,000
2010	Nicholas Lindsay	CAN	Toronto FC	$45,100
2012	Quillan Roberts	CAN	Toronto FC	$33,750
2011	Russell Teibert	CAN	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$60,600
2011	Brian Sylvestre	USA	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$33,750
2011	Bryce Alderson	CAN	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$75,000
2012	Caleb Clarke	CAN	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	$44,000
2012	Kellyn Acosta	USA	FC Dallas	$??
2012	Kellyn Acosta	USA	FC Dallas	$??