Major League Soccer expansion clubs Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC have positioned to make roster-building moves following their first official league event – the MLS expansion priority draft Sunday.

From midtown Manhattan, Inter Miami CF managing owner and CEO Jorge Mas with sporting director Paul McDonough joined Nashville SC CEO Ian Ayre with general manager Mike Jacobs to select priorities in the five available player acquisition mechanisms.

An opening coin toss awarded Miami with the first pick as the south Florida team decided to select the No. 1 overall pick in the expansion draft Nov. 19. With the second selection, Nashville took the No. 1 ranking in the allocation order. The two clubs alternated subsequent picks until all five roster-building mechanisms were selected.

MLS Expansion Priority Draft  Results

  1. No.1 pick in 2019 MLS Expansion Draft: Inter Miami CF No. 1, Nashville SC No. 2
  2. No.1 position in Allocation Ranking Order: Nashville SC No. 1, Inter Miami CF No. 2
  3. No.1 pick in 2020 MLS SuperDraft: Inter Miami CF No. 1, Nashville SC No. 2
  4. Penultimate position in MLS Re-Entry and End-of-Year Waiver Order: Nashville SC No. 25, Inter Miami CF No. 26
  5. Penultimate position in Discovery Player Ranking: Inter Miami CF No. 25, Nashville SC No. 26

The momentum for Miami and Nashville to strengthen their inaugural MLS rosters continues on Nov. 19 with the 2019 MLS expansion draft, where the debutants will then have an opportunity to select up to five current players from other MLS teams. Each current MLS team may protect up to 12 rostered players (11 in previous years) from inclusion on the eligible players list.

The complete list of players eligible for selection in the 2019 MLS expansion draft will be released Saturday, Nov. 16.

Exempt clubs with players selected by FC Cincinnati in the 2018 expansion draft are D.C. United, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo and Red Bulls.

Selection Nashville SC Inter Miami CF
1 2019 Expansion Draft
2 Allocation Ranking Order
3 2020 MLS SuperDraft
4 2019 Waiver Draft and Re-Entry Draft Ranking
5 Discovery Player Ranking

The momentum for Miami and Nashville to strengthen their inaugural MLS rosters continues on

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.