CHICAGO(Dec. 14, 2020) – Chicago Fire FC today announced its list of protected players in advance of the 2020 MLS Expansion Draft.
Scheduled to take place on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 5:00 p.m. CT, the Expansion Draft will provide Austin FC with an opportunity to select up to five players in advance of its inaugural MLS campaign in 2021. Once one player has been selected from a team’s unprotected roster, that team cannot lose any further players.
The following Chicago Fire players are exempt from selection in the Expansion Draft:
Protected Players (12): midfielder Ignacio Aliseda, forward Robert Berić, defender Jonathan Bornstein, defender Francisco Calvo, midfielder Przemysław Frankowski, midfielder Gastón Giménez, midfielder Fabian Herbers, midfielder Álvaro Medrán, defender Miguel Navarro, goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, midfielder Luka Stojanović, defender Carlos Terán
Homegrown Exempt Players (11): goalkeeper Chris Brady, midfielder Javier Casas Jr., midfielder Brian Gutiérrez, midfielder Jeremiah Gutjahr, midfielder Djordje Mihailović, midfielder Alex Monis, defender Andre Reynolds II, midfielder Allan Rodriguez, defender/midfielder Mauricio Pineda, goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina, defender Nicholas Slonina
The following players are available for selection:
Unprotected Players (9): midfielder Micheal Azira, midfielder Brandt Bronico, midfielder Elliot Collier, defender Johan Kappelhof, goalkeeper Kenneth Kronholm, defender Wyatt Omsberg, forward CJ Sapong, defender Boris Sekulić, goalkeeper Connor Sparrow
The Expansion Draft eligible player list includes players from 16 MLS clubs. All 16 clubs had the opportunity to protect up to 12 players from their roster. MLS Homegrown Players ages 25 and under (those born during or after 1995), as well as Generation adidas players that did not graduate from the program following the 2020 season are automatically protected, therefore clubs did not need to use one of their 12 selections to protect them.
The following 10 Clubs are exempt from this year’s draft after having a player selected in the 2019 MLS Expansion Draft: Atlanta United FC, Columbus Crew SC, FC Cincinnati, Los Angeles FC, Minnesota United FC, New England Revolution, New York City FC, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC and Sporting Kansas City.
Complete rules for the 2020 MLS Expansion Draft are available here.
