Every Designated Player in MLS in 2026

Tom Weber

• 10 Mar 2026 20:00 CDT
• 6 min read

Analysis

Created in 2007, the Designated Player (DP) rule changed Major League Soccer forever.

The rule was implemented to allow the LA Galaxy to sign David Beckham from Real Madrid and to pay him a hefty $6.5 million per year. At the time, this was $4.4m more than the entire salary cap for the team, illustrating the need for more roster flexibility.

It became colloquially known as the Beckham Rule because of the English superstar. It heralded the start of the MLS 2.0 era and marked a significant qualitative leap from the first decade of the league's existence by allowing clubs to pay star players whatever they wanted.

Over the years, the rule has been amended, while other roster mechanisms such as Allocation Money, U22 Initiative spots and cash-for-player trades have been devised to allow for even greater flexibility.

As of 2026, MLS clubs are allowed to register three DPs. If a DP is placed on the season-ending injury list or loaned out to a club that covers his full salary, a replacement can be signed.

Clubs may sacrifice one of their DP spots for an U22 Initiative slot, allowing them to sign four U22s who sit outside of the salary cap instead of three. However, they are not allowed to do the opposite and trade an U22 slot for a DP spot.

DPs over the age of 24 who are signed in the primary transfer window (January-March) count as $803,125 against the salary cap ($6.425m) this year. Those signed in the secondary window (July-September) only carry a budget charge of $401,563, which is why clubs often prefer to wait until the summer. DPs are cheaper, and European stars are generally easier to acquire.

DPs under 24 (Young Designated Players) count as $150,000 against the salary cap if they are 20 or younger or if they were signed in the summer, while those signed in the spring aged between 21 and 23 carry a charge of $200,000.

Clubs are incentivised to have at least one Young DP on their roster. If they have three senior DPs, they have to pay the league $150,000. This fee is then shared between the clubs that have only used two DPs and made available as additional General Allocation Money the following season.

Below, FootballTransfers lists every DP currently in MLS as of 10 March, 2026...

Atlanta United

Aleksei Miranchuk

Miguel Almiron

Emmanuel Latte Lath

Austin FC

Brandon Vazquez

Myrto Uzuni

Facundo Torres

CF Montreal

Ivan Jaime

Charlotte FC

Liel Abada

Wilfried Zaha

Chicago Fire

Hugo Cuypers

Jonathan Bamba

Colorado Rapids

Rafael Navarro

Paxten Aaronson

Columbus Crew

Daniel Gazdag

Diego Rossi

Wessam Abou Ali

DC United

Tai Baribo

Louis Munteanu

FC Cincinnati

Evander

Kevin Denkey

FC Dallas

Petar Musa

Houston Dynamo

Ezequiel Ponce

Guilherme

Mateusz Bogusz

Inter Miami

Lionel Messi

Rodrigo De Paul

German Berterame

LA Galaxy

Joao Klauss

Gabriel Pec

Joseph Paintsil

Riqui Puig (injured)

Los Angeles FC

Denis Bouanga

Son Heung-min

Minnesota United

Kelvin Yeboah

Joaquin Pereyra

Nashville SC

Hany Mukhtar

Cristian Espinoza

Sam Surridge

New England Revolution

Carles Gil

Matt Turner

New York City FC

Talles Magno

Thiago Martins

Nicolas Fernandez

New York Red Bulls

Emil Forsberg

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting

Jorge Ruvalcaba

Orlando City

Martin Ojeda

Marco Pasalic

Philadelphia Union

Bruno Damiani

Portland Timbers

David Da Costa

Kristoffer Velde

Real Salt Lake

Morgan Guilavogui

San Diego FC

Hirving Lozano

Anders Dreyer

San Jose Earthquakes

Timo Werner

Seattle Sounders

Albert Rusnak

Pedro de la Vega

Jordan Morris

Sporting Kansas City

Dejan Joveljic

Manu Garcia

St. Louis CITY

Marcel Hartel

Toronto FC

Djordje Mihailovic

Josh Sargent

Vancouver Whitecaps

Ryan Gauld

Andres Cubas

Thomas Muller

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