Real Salt Lake Await MLS Expansion Draft In Busy Week For The Club
Dec 10, 2024, 2:56 PM | Updated: Dec 11, 2024, 11:18 am
Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake.
SALT LAKE CITY- Last Saturday, the LA Galaxy defeated the NY Red Bulls in the MLS Cup Final to take home their sixth title and first since 2014. Their victory brought a close to the 2024 MLS season, allowing teams to begin targeting new acquisitions to prepare their rosters for the next campaign.
Additionally, Real Salt Lake is preparing for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Draw on Tuesday night to see who they will be matched up against in the first round of the competition.
Along with the free agency window opening in just a few days, MLS will also welcome an expansion franchise, San Diego FC, with an expansion draft on Wednesday night, meaning a portion of RSL’s roster will be eligible for selection.
An already busy week for the Claret-and-Cobalt is just getting started, so let’s break it down so you can follow along with RSL as their offseason preparations begins!
All 27 teams for the 2025 Champions Cup are set! ✅
🗓️ Draw: Tuesday, Dec 10
Read more here: https://t.co/ILgylExOLg 🔗 pic.twitter.com/g21PtWQqHo
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) December 9, 2024
Real Salt Lake Add Tyler Wolff
At the end of November, Real Salt Lake parted ways with 11 players whose contracts had either expired or their options were not exercised. The list includes Maikel Chang, Tomas Gomez, Marcelo Silva, Kevin Bonilla, Erik Holt, Bertin Jacquesson, Benji Michel, Jaziel Orozco, Ilijah Paul, Delentz Pierre, and Rubio Rubin.
Despite the losses, Real Salt Lake is retaining 29 players from last year’s squad, and they just made their first addition of the offseason. During Monday’s half-day trade window that lasted from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., RSL made a move to acquire Tyler Wolff from Atlanta United for $50,000 of General Allocation Money.
The 21-year-old has 61 career MLS appearances with six total goals from the forward position. This year for Atlanta, Wolff touched the field 18 times, including six starts with his one goal on the season coming against NY Red Bulls in stoppage time.
TYLER WOLFF WITH A RUN FOR THE AGES 💨 pic.twitter.com/p7Fh9SQ1FR
— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 6, 2024
Wolff will be added to an already stacked and deep attacking group, so it will be interesting to see how his role with RSL develops during the preseason.
CONCACAF Champions Cup Draw
With their third-place finish in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake earned one of the spots for MLS’ five highest-finishing squads in the standings that had not otherwise qualified for the Cup. The Claret-and-Cobalt will make their first return to the competition since 2015-16. Real Salt Lake was the first American club to participate in the competition’s final back in 2010-11, where they fell to Monterrey. With a storied history in CONCACAF club play, it will be exciting to watch RSL take on some of North and Central America’s best teams.
27 other clubs will play for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, including ten total sides from MLS. Five clubs have been given byes to the Round of 16 based on merit, while the other 22 will play in Round One. In Round One, the three highest-ranked clubs have been pre-seeded based on CONCACAF Club Rankings. Real Salt Lake has been placed in Pot 1, with the next eight highest-ranked teams, a group that includes LAFC, Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders FC, Pumas UNAM (Liga MX), CD Guadalajara (Liga MX), FC Cincinnati, and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
The draw will take place on Tuesday night at 5:00 p.m. MT, CONCACAF will be streaming it live on YouTube.
The step-by-step of the draw that will decide the matchups for the 2025 #ChampionsCup! 🔥⚽️
Learn more about it here: https://t.co/K12746uSka 👈 pic.twitter.com/o6Qf3ARifO
— Concacaf Champions Cup (@TheChampions) December 9, 2024
MLS Expansion Draft
MLS will be back to an even number as they add San Diego FC as the league’s 30th club. San Diego FC will be the second professional soccer team that the city has welcomed since the construction of Snapdragon Stadium in 2022. San Diego FC will be sharing the venue with San Diego Wave FC, which was added as an NWSL expansion club in 2022.
While the addition of a new club to MLS is certainly electrifying and a great sign for American soccer, the expansion draft may put a member of Real Salt Lake on the move to San Diego. On Tuesday morning, each club submitted their Expansion Draft Eligibility Lists, creating a pot of 354 players from around the league for the new team to choose from. Each club was able to protect 12 players who would not have the possibility of being picked.
While Real Salt Lake has a list of 17 eligible players, only one player can be selected from the team, and then their remaining eligible players are taken out of the pot. At the end of the draft, all remaining players on the list will be retained by RSL. San Diego FC will be able to select up to five players in the Expansion Draft.
You can watch the MLS Expansion Draft on SanDiegoFC.com at 8:30 p.m. MT on December 11.
17 current members of @realsaltlake are eligible to be selected in tomorrow's MLS Expansion Draft. @sandiegofc can select up to five players from the list of 354.#RSL @rslshow pic.twitter.com/hEeB4oJdFt
— Tanner Tripp (@tanner_tripp) December 10, 2024
Expect to see more moves in the coming days as the MLS Free Agency period opens at 11:00 a.m. MT on Thursday, December 12, as well as the Re-Entry Process this and next week.
