The team have participated in every edition of the MLS SuperDraft, the league's annual college player draft, since they joined MLS.[2] The use of a draft is similar to other major sports leagues in the United States and Canada, but uncommon in soccer.[3] The draft order is determined by the previous season's standings and progress in the MLS Cup Playoffs. Expansion teams receive the earliest picks, followed by returning teams with the worst win–loss records; for playoff teams, the order is determined by the round they were eliminated in, followed by points per game during the regular season.[4] Draft picks are tradeable for players, other picks, or forms of compensation such as general allocation money or international roster slots.[5][6]
Since the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, players from American colleges have been eligible for the draft beginning in their sophomore year; the league previously restricted draft eligibility to players in their senior year unless they had signed a Generation Adidas contract.[7][8] Non-collegiate international players are also allowed to be selected if they are nominated by clubs for the league's draft-eligible list.[9] A team has priority rights to sign a selected player until the end of the following year following the draft; players who return to college or sign for a professional team elsewhere after their selection are not allowed to enter a later draft.[4][10]
The Sounders were granted the first overall pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft due to their status as an expansion team and selected 20-year-old forward Steve Zakuani from the University of Akron.[11] The number and rounds and picks in the SuperDraft have fluctuated based on the needs of teams and the expansion of MLS, which grew from 15 teams in 2009 to 30 teams in 2025.[6][12] The SuperDraft was cut from four rounds to two by 2012 due to the reintroduction of the supplemental draft, which replaced the later rounds.[13] The supplemental draft was eliminated in 2014 and replaced by a single, expanded version of the SuperDraft with four rounds that was used until a reduction to three rounds in 2021.[14][15]
The SuperDraft was held concurrently with the annual convention of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America until the draft became a virtual conference in 2020.[16][17] It had declined in importance by the late 2010s as the development of young players had shifted to team academies and the signing of homegrown players.[18][19] Teams had also skipped all their picks in later rounds or traded away their picks;[18] the Sounders had traded their lone first-round picks in several years and only selected one player in the 2021 draft.[2][20] In the most recent draft in December 2024, the Sounders selected three players over three rounds, including midfielder Ryan Baer from West Virginia as their first-round pick.[21]
DR Congo
United States
Ghana
El Salvador
Jamaica
Suriname
Brazil
Bosnia and Herzegovina
England
Norway
Sweden
Germany
Canada
France
Sierra Leone
