Commerce City, Colo. - Major League Soccer announced today that the 2013 MLS SuperDraft will take place on Thursday, January 17, at the Indiana Convention Center, in Indianapolis, Ind. (10 a.m. MT), in conjunction with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Convention.
The SuperDraft will include two rounds and 38 overall selections. The first nine selections are currently held by clubs that did not qualify for the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs, in reverse order of regular season finish. The remaining 10 positions currently belong to clubs that were eliminated in the same round of the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs, in reverse order of regular season finish.
A four-round Supplemental Draft will take place via conference call on Tuesday, January 22, 2013.
The Rapids have three selections in the SuperDraft and five selections in the Supplemental Draft. In the SuperDraft, Colorado's natural selections are the 6th and 25th overall picks. The club also owns Chicago's 2nd round pick, 30th overall, acquired as part of the trade that sent Wells Thompson to the Fire.
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Colorado's three selections in the first two rounds of the SuperDraft are the most since the inaugural SuperDraft in 2000, when the Rapids had three picks in the first round, and one in the second. That year, the Rapids took goalkeeper Adin Brown (3rd overall) and defenders Wes Hart (7th) and Alan Woods (10th).
The League also announced that the 2013 adidas MLS Player Combine will be held on January 11-15 at Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
The invited players - as determined by a select panel of college coaches in conjunction with MLS coaches and technical staffs - will be divided into four separate teams that are led by prominent collegiate coaches and select youth coaches. Matches will be played as doubleheaders on January 11, 13 and 15.
MLS SUPERDRAFT
Round 1: 6th overall
Round 2: 25th overall
Round 2: 30th overall (from Chicago, Thompson trade)
MLS SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT:
Round 1: 6th overall
Round 2: 25th overall
Round 2: 37th overall (from Houston, Mullan - Clark trade)
Round 3: 44th overall
Round 4: 63rd overall
