The 2018 MLS SuperDraft was the nineteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. As customary, the SuperDraft was held in conjunction with the annual United Soccer Coaches convention. The 2018 UCS was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between January 17–21, 2018. Rounds one and two of the SuperDraft were held on January 19, 2018. Rounds three and four of the 2018 SuperDraft were held via a conference call on January 21, 2018.

Format The SuperDraft format has remained constant throughout its history and closely resembles that of the NFL draft:

Any expansion teams receive the first picks. Los Angeles FC will enter the league as an expansion team in 2018. Non-playoff clubs receive the next picks in reverse order of prior season finish. Teams that made the MLS Cup Playoffs are then ordered by which round of the playoffs they are eliminated. The winners of the MLS Cup are given the last selection, and the losers the penultimate selection.

Player selection

Round 1 Any player marked with a * is part of the Generation Adidas program.

Pick # MLS team Player Position College PDL or NPSL affiliation Signed 1 Los Angeles FC João Moutinho* Defender Akron Los Angeles FC 2 LA Galaxy Tomas Hilliard-Arce Defender Stanford Burlingame Dragons FC LA Galaxy 3 Los Angeles FC Tristan Blackmon Defender Pacific Burlingame Dragons FC Los Angeles FC 4 FC Dallas Francis Atuahene* Forward Michigan Michigan Bucks FC Dallas 5 Chicago Fire Jon Bakero Forward Wake Forest Carolina Dynamo Chicago Fire 6 Orlando City SC Chris Mueller Forward Wisconsin Chicago FC United Orlando City SC 7 Minnesota United FC Mason Toye* Forward Indiana Minnesota United FC 8 New England Revolution Brandon Bye Defender Western Michigan Minneapolis City SC New England Revolution 9 New England Revolution Mark Segbers Forward Wisconsin Chicago FC United New England Revolution 10 Chicago Fire Mo Adams* Midfielder Syracuse Reading United AC Chicago Fire 11 FC Dallas Ema Twumasi* Midfielder Wake Forest GPS Portland Phoenix FC Dallas 12 San Jose Earthquakes Paul Marie Midfielder FIU Reading United AC San Jose Earthquakes 13 Sporting Kansas City Eric Dick Goalkeeper Butler OKC Energy U23 Sporting Kansas City 14 Atlanta United FC Jon Gallagher Forward Notre Dame Atlanta United FC 15 Minnesota United FC Wyatt Omsberg Defender Dartmouth Seacoast United Phantoms Minnesota United FC 16 New York Red Bulls Brian White Forward Duke New York Red Bulls U-23 New York Red Bulls II 17 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Justin Fiddes Defender Washington Southern California Surf Vancouver Whitecaps FC 18 Sporting Kansas City Graham Smith Defender Denver Colorado Rapids U-23 Sporting Kansas City 19 New York City FC Jeff Caldwell Goalkeeper Virginia Colorado Rapids U-23 New York City FC 20 Houston Dynamo Michael Nelson Goalkeeper SMU OKC Energy U23 Houston Dynamo 21 Columbus Crew SC Ben Lundgaard Goalkeeper Virginia Tech New York Red Bulls U-23 Columbus Crew SC 22 Seattle Sounders FC Alex Roldan Midfielder Seattle OSA FC Seattle Sounders FC 23 Minnesota United FC Carter Manley Defender Duke D.C. United U-23 Minnesota United FC

Round 1 trades

Round 2 Any player marked with a * is part of the Generation Adidas program.

Pick # MLS team Player Position College PDL or NPSL affiliation Signed 24 Los Angeles FC Pol Calvet Midfielder Pittsburgh Retired 25 Colorado Rapids Alan Winn Forward North Carolina Tobacco Road FC Nashville SC 26 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Lucas Stauffer Defender Creighton Des Moines Menace New York Red Bulls II 27 Colorado Rapids Frantzdy Pierrot Forward Coastal Carolina Reading United AC Royal Excel Mouscron 28 Toronto FC Tim Kübel Defender Louisville Toronto FC II 29 FC Dallas Mauro Cichero Forward SMU OKC Energy U23 Charleston Battery 30 San Jose Earthquakes Danny Musovski Forward UNLV FC Tucson San Jose Earthquakes 31 New York Red Bulls Niko de Vera Defender Akron Portland Timbers U23 New York Red Bulls II 32 Columbus Crew SC Edward Opoku* Forward Virginia AC Connecticut Columbus Crew SC 33 Real Salt Lake Ricky Lopez-Espin Forward Creighton Tampa Bay Rowdies U23 Real Salt Lake 34 FC Dallas Chris Lema Midfielder Georgetown New York Red Bulls U-23 New York Red Bulls II 35 San Jose Earthquakes Mohamed Thiaw Forward Louisville Portland Timbers U23 San Jose Earthquakes 36 Atlanta United FC Oliver Shannon Midfielder Clemson Atlanta United FC 37 Atlanta United FC Gordon Wild* Forward Maryland Atlanta United FC 38 Chicago Fire Diego Campos Midfielder Clemson SIMA Águilas Chicago Fire 39 New York Red Bulls Tom Barlow Forward Wisconsin Chicago FC United New York Red Bulls II 40 LA Galaxy Drew Skundrich Midfielder Stanford Burlingame Dragons FC Bethlehem Steel 41 Minnesota United FC Xavier Gomez Forward Omaha Chicago FC United 42 New York City FC A. J. Paterson Midfielder Wright State SW Florida Adrenaline Bethlehem Steel 43 Houston Dynamo Mac Steeves Forward Providence FC Boston Houston Dynamo 44 Columbus Crew SC Jake Rozhansky Midfielder Maryland D.C. United U-23 Maccabi Netanya 45 Seattle Sounders FC Markus Fjørtoft Defender Duke New York Red Bulls U-23 Southern United 46 Toronto FC Drew Shepherd Goalkeeper Western Michigan Michigan Bucks Toronto FC II

Round 2 trades

Round 3

Pick # MLS team Player Position College PDL or NPSL affiliation Signed 47 Los Angeles FC Jordan Jones Forward Oregon State Lane United RGVFC Toros 48 LA Galaxy Nate Shultz Defender Akron Portland Timbers U23s LA Galaxy II 49 Chicago Fire Elliot Collier Forward Loyola Chicago Michigan Bucks Chicago Fire 50 Colorado Rapids Thomas Olsen Goalkeeper San Diego FC Tucson Las Vegas Lights 51 Real Salt Lake PASS 52 New York City FC Alex Bumpus Defender Kentucky Unsigned 53 Montreal Impact Ken Krolicki Midfielder Michigan State K-W United FC Montreal Impact 54 Philadelphia Union Mike Catalano Midfielder Wisconsin Chicago FC United Bethlehem Steel 55 Philadelphia Union Aidan Apodaca Forward California Baptist Southern California Seahorses Bethlehem Steel 56 Real Salt Lake PASS 57 FC Dallas Amir Šašivarević Defender Grand Canyon Lane United Ogden City SC 58 San Jose Earthquakes Kevin Partida Midfielder UNLV FC Tucson Reno 1868 59 Houston Dynamo Pablo Aguilar Midfielder Virginia Reading United AC RGVFC Toros 60 Montreal Impact PASS 61 Portland Timbers Caleb Duvernay Defender NC State North Carolina FC U23 North Carolina FC U23 62 Vancouver Whitecaps FC Cory Brown Defender Xavier Michigan Bucks Fresno FC 63 Portland Timbers Timmy Mueller Forward Oregon State Portland Timbers U23s SR Delémont 64 Portland Timbers Stuart Holthusen Forward Akron Unsigned 65 New York City FC PASS 66 Houston Dynamo Sheldon Sullivan Defender Virginia Reading United AC RGVFC Toros 67 Columbus Crew SC Luis Argudo Midfielder Wake Forest Carolina Dynamo Columbus Crew SC 68 Seattle Sounders FC Chris Bared Defender Villanova Unsigned 69 Toronto FC Andre Morrison Defender Hartford Long Island Rough Riders Unsigned

Round 3 trades

Round 4

Pick # MLS team Player Position College PDL or NPSL affiliation Signed 70 Atlanta United FC Paul Christensen Goalkeeper Portland Seattle Sounders FC U-23 Atlanta United 2 71 D.C. United Afonso Pinheiro Forward Albany FC Tucson Batatais 72 Colorado Rapids Brian Iloski Midfielder UCLA San Diego Zest FC Legia Warsaw 73 Colorado Rapids Niki Jackson Forward Grand Canyon Colorado Rapids 74 D.C. United Rafael Andrade Santos Midfielder VCU SIMA Águilas SIMA Águilas 75 Sporting Kansas City Will Bagrou Forward Mercer Seattle Sounders FC U-23 Birmingham Hammers 76 Montreal Impact PASS 77 Philadelphia Union Matt Danilack Midfielder Dartmouth GPS Portland Phoenix Unsigned 78 New England Revolution Nicolas Samayoa Defender Florida Gulf Coast New England Revolution 79 Real Salt Lake PASS 80 FC Dallas Noah Franke Midfielder Creighton Tampa Bay Rowdies U23 Pittsburgh Riverhounds 81 San Jose Earthquakes PASS 82 Sporting Kansas City Wilfred Williams Defender Oakland Myrtle Beach Mutiny Detroit City FC 83 New York Red Bulls Jared Stroud Midfielder Colgate New York Red Bulls U-23 New York Red Bulls II 84 Chicago Fire Josh Morton Defender California Burlingame Dragons FC Tulsa Roughnecks 85 New York Red Bulls Jose Aguinaga Forward Rider New York Red Bulls U-23 New York Red Bulls II 86 Vancouver Whitecaps FC PASS 87 Portland Timbers Mamadou Guirassy Forward NJIT Jersey Express USL Dunkerque 88 New York City FC PASS 89 Houston Dynamo Manny Padilla Defender San Francisco San Francisco City FC RGVFC Toros 90 LA Galaxy PASS 91 D.C. United PASS 92 Toronto FC Ben White Defender Gonzaga Portland Timbers U23s Unsigned

Round 4 trades

Other 2018 SuperDraft Trade Notes On December 23, 2016, Columbus Crew SC acquired a second-round selection in the 2018 SuperDraft from Atlanta United FC in exchange for the MLS rights to defender Greg Garza. Trade terms stated that if Garza started a minimum of 12 MLS regular-season games in 2017 the SuperDraft pick would be converted to General Allocation Money instead of the SuperDraft pick. Garza met this threshold and Columbus received General Allocation Money. On March 30, 2017, Vancouver Whitecaps FC acquired a conditional first-round selection in the 2018 SuperDraft, midfielder Tony Tchani, $225,000 of targeted allocation money, and $75,000 of general allocation money from Columbus Crew SC in exchange for forward Kekuta Manneh. The traded SuperDraft pick was contingent on Columbus signing Manneh to a contract extending beyond the 2017 MLS season and would have been Columbus's natural selection. However, in December 2017 Manneh instead signed with Pachuca of Liga MX. Trade terms also stated that Vancouver would receive additional general allocation money if Manneh is traded by Columbus prior to December 31, 2018, and would have retained a percentage of any future transfer fee if Manneh was transferred outside of MLS.

Notable undrafted players Homegrown players

Original MLS teamPlayerPositionCollegeConferenceNotesMontreal ImpactGoalkeeperNew MexicoConference USAReal Salt LakeForwardStanfordPac-12Seattle Sounders FCForwardWashingtonPac-12FC DallasDefenderSMUAmericanReal Salt LakeDefenderNew MexicoConference USAPortland TimbersForwardStanfordPac-12Chicago FireDefenderIndianaBig TenSan Jose EarthquakesGoalkeeperGeorgetownBig EastVancouver Whitecaps FCMidfielderOregon StatePac-12New York Red BullsDefenderWake ForestACCFC DallasDefenderPortlandWest CoastFC DallasMidfielderWake ForestACC

Players who signed outside of MLS

PlayerPositionCollegeConferenceTeamLeagueNotes Greg Boehme Midfielder VCU Atlantic 10 Richmond Kickers United Soccer League Harry Cooksley Midfielder St. John's Big East Mallorca Segunda División B Nico Corti Goalkeeper Stanford Pac-12 Rio Grande Valley FC Toros United Soccer League Fabio De Sousa Forward Rutgers–Newark NJAC Penn FC United Soccer League Bryce Marion Midfielder Stanford Pac-12 Rio Grande Valley FC Toros United Soccer League Nico Matern Midfielder Indiana Wesleyan Crossroads Indy Eleven United Soccer League Koby Osei-Wusu Midfielder George Washington Atlantic 10 Richmond Kickers United Soccer League

Summary Selections by college athletic conference ConferenceRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Total NCAA Division I conferences ACC 8 8 4 0 20 America East 0 0 1 1 2 American 1 1 0 0 2 Atlantic 10 0 0 0 1 1 Atlantic Sun 0 0 0 2 2 Big East 1 4 2 1 8 Big Ten 4 3 2 0 9 Conference USA 1 0 1 0 2 Horizon 0 1 0 1 2 Ivy 1 0 0 1 2 MAAC 0 0 1 0 1 Mid-American 2 2 2 0 6 Missouri Valley 0 0 1 0 1 Pac-12 2 1 2 2 7 Patriot 0 0 0 1 1 SoCon 0 0 0 1 1 Summit 1 1 0 0 2 Sun Belt 0 1 0 1 2 WAC 1 1 2 1 5 West Coast 1 0 1 3 5NCAA Division II conferencesPacific West 0 0 1 0 1

NCAA Division I conferences with no draft picks: Big South, Colonial and Northeast

Schools with multiple draft selections SelectionsSchools 4 Akron, Virginia, Wisconsin 3 Creighton, Duke, Wake Forest 2 Clemson, Dartmouth, Grand Canyon, Louisville, Maryland, Oregon State, SMU, Stanford, UNLV, Western Michigan

See also 2017 NCAA Division I men's soccer season