When the 2025 MLS SuperDraft gets underway later today at 3 pm ET, New York City FC will have the 17th pick overall after finishing in 13th place in the 2024 Supporters' Shield standings. It's not as good as a coveted Top 10 pick, but you can find exceptional players throughout the First Round.
Ignore the MLS SuperDraft at your peril: Some may sniff at the quality of the players from a pool mostly comprised mostly of collegiate athletes, but they ignore a demographic change in recent years. "Despite the doubts, college soccer has largely kept pace with MLS in large part due to the influx of foreign talent," Paul Harvey wrote in his exhaustive preview of the 2025 SuperDraft for American Soccer Analysis. "The job prospects for an academy reject in Europe are not great and a college education keeps the dream alive while providing a solid backup plan. Also, life as a college athlete is objectively pretty great! That means that some pretty impressive talent ends up in relatively small schools and the NCAA quality of play continues to improve."
Case in point: Yannick Bright, a 23-year-old Italian defender who spent his youth playing for academy teams in his native Milan, then who attended the University of New Hampshire. Inter Miami took Bright with the 15th pick overall last year, and he went on to make 14 starts and 23 appearances in one of the most stacked squads in the league.
St. Louis City picked Japanese midfielder Hosei Kijima, who was born in Yokohama and attended Wake Forest University, made eight starts and 18 appearances, scoring a goal and adding two assists along the way. Kijima was selected by San Diego FC in the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft last week, then traded him to DC United for $400,000 in General Allocation Money.
Players Selected: 24
Players Signed: 14
Appeared in First Team: 8
Currently Active at New York City: 3
New York City selected 24 players in their 10 years in Major League Soccer, and eight of them went on to make appearances for the First Team. The list includes forward Jack Harrison, now a starter with Everton FC in the English Premier League, who made 55 appearances over two seasons, scoring 14 goals and adding 13 assists, and goalkeeper Luis Barraza, now with DC United, who made 30 appearances over six seasons, collecting six clean sheets on the way.
Two current First Team starters were selected in the MLS SuperDraft. Left-back Kevin O'Toole was a second-round pick in 2022, and possibly one of the greatest discoveries ever made in the MLS SuperDraft: The 26-year-old has 40 starts and 53 appearances over three seasons, logging 3,851 minutes since joining the team. Winger Malachi Jones was the 8th pick overall last year, and earned a spot in the Starting XI, scoring one goal and adding three assists over just 483 minutes before being sidelined for the season with a fractured fibula and tibia suffered in a 4-2 win over Orlando City in June — Jones had an assist in that game.
New York City FC SuperDraft Picks by Year
| Year | Name | Pos | Overall Pick | Signed | Current Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Malachi Jones* | F | #8 | Y | New York City |
| 2024 | Taylor Calheira | F | #66 | Y | NYCFC II |
| 2023 | Malcolm Johnston | M | #26 | N | Portland Timbers 2 |
| 2023 | Braudílio Rodrigues | F | #55 | N | Tacoma Defiance |
| 2023 | MD Myers | F | #66 | Y | Charleston Battery |
| 2022 | Kevin O'Toole* | F | #34 | Y | New York City |
| 2022 | Kingsford Adjei | F | #56 | N | One Knoxville |
| 2022 | El Mahdi Youssoufi | F | #84 | Y | Without Club |
| 2021 | Ben Di Rosa | D | #44 | N | Without Club |
| 2021 | Vuk Latinovich* | D | #71 | Y | Sandens Ulf |
| 2020 | Jesús Pérez | M | #22 | N | Chicago FC |
| 2020 | Felicien Dumas | D | #48 | N | Without Club |
| 2019 | Luis Barraza* | GK | #12 | Y | DC United |
| 2019 | Abdi Mohamed | D | #43 | Y | New Mexico United |
| 2018 | Jeff Caldwell | GK | #19 | Y | Retired |
| 2018 | AJ Paterson | M | #42 | N | Birmingham Legion |
| 2018 | Alex Bumpus | D | #52 | N | Without Club |
| 2017 | Jonathan Lewis* | F | #3 | Y | Colorado Rapids |
| 2017 | Jalen Brown | F | #38 | N | Retired |
| 2017 | Chris Wingate | M | #54 | N | Retired |
| 2016 | Jack Harrison* | F | #1 | Y | Everton Football Club |
| 2015 | Khiry Shelton* | F | #2 | Y | Sporting Kansas City |
| 2015 | Connor Brandt* | M | #23 | Y | Retired |
| 2015 | Andre Rawls | GK | #44 | Y | Retired |
* Appeared in First Team
In other words, later today New York City will select a player who will be given the chance to prove himself and possibly join the Senior Team. This year, 16 of the 29 Round One picks appeared for the clubs that selected them, and a handful made significant contributions to their teams.
Not only was there Bright with Inter Miami and Kijima with St. Louis City, as discussed earlier. There was Tyrese Spicer with Toronto FC (19 appearances, 1064 mins, 2 goals, 2 assists), Logan Farrington with FC Dallas (29 appearances, 1210 mins, 4 goals, 8 assists, and Jacob Murrell with DC United (27 appearances, 866 mins, 1 goal, 3 assists).
2024 MLS SuperDraft | First Round Picks
| Name | Pos | Club | App | Mins | G | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tyrese Spicer | F | Toronto FC | 19 | 1064 | 2 | 2 |
| 2. | Wayne Frederick | F | Colroado Rapids | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3. | Logan Farrington | F | FC Dallas | 29 | 1210 | 4 | 8 |
| 4. | Kimani Stewart-Baynes | F | Colorado Rapids | 12 | 131 | 0 | 1 |
| 5. | Nate Jones | D | Colorado Rapids | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6. | Bryan Dowd | GK | Chicago Fire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7. | Jacob Murrell | F | DC United | 27 | 866 | 1 | 3 |
| 8. | Malachi Jones | F | New York City FC | 14 | 483 | 1 | 3 |
| 9. | Hugo Bacharach | D | Minnesota United | 1 | 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 10. | Grayson Doody | D | CF Montréal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11. | Wyatt Meyer* | D | Nashville SC | - | - | - | - |
| 12. | Aidan O'Connor | D | NY Red Bulls | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 13. | Jamar Ricketts | D | San Jose | 1 | 34 | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | Tyger Smalls | F | Charlotte FC | 15 | 212 | 0 | 0 |
| 15. | Yannick Bright | D | Inter Miami | 23 | 1403 | 0 | 3 |
| 16. | Matthew Bell | F | Real Salt Lake | 1 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 17. | Hosei Kijima | M | St. Louis City | 18 | 782 | 1 | 2 |
| 18. | Kevin Bonilla | D | Real Salt Lake | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19. | Jayden Hibbert | GK | Atlanta United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20. | Marcus Caldeira* | F | Minnesota United | - | - | - | - |
| 21. | Jeorgio Kocevski | M | Orlando City | 11 | 154 | 0 | 0 |
| 22. | Ryan Schewe | GK | Sporting Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23. | Kalani Kossa-Rienzi | M | Seattle Sounders | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 24. | Ryan Carmichael | F | Inter Miami | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25. | Yutaro Tsukada | F | Orlando City | 3 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 26. | Stephen Annor Gyamfi | F | Houoston Dynamo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27. | Brian Schaefer | D | FC Cincinnati | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28. | Jackson Lee* | GK | LAFC | - | - | - | - |
| 29. | Jayden Da | F | Columbus Crew | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* Didn't sign with club
The list grows longer when you go back an additional year. That makes sense: Almost all of the players selected in the MLS SuperDraft are coming from college, and need time to adjust to the size, physicality, and year-round schedule of professional soccer.
Fully eight players signed in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft made significant contributions to their clubs. That class of draftees is headlined by defender Moïse Bombito, now a Canada international, who made 29 appearances for Colorado Rapids before transferring to OGC Nice in Ligue 1 for a fee that could reach a reported $10.7 million. And by striker Duncan McGuire, who scored 23 goals in 57 appearances for Orlando City.
2023 MLS SuperDraft | First Round Picks
| Name | Pos | Club | App | Mins | G | A | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hamady Diop | D | Charlotte FC | 3 | 35 | 0 | 0 |
| 2. | Shakur Mohammed | M | Orlando City | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 3. | Moïse Bombito | D | Colorado Rapids | 29 | 2298 | 0 | 0 |
| 4. | Joshua Bolma | F | New England | 1 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 5. | J.C. Ngando | M | Vancouver | 8 | 73 | 0 | 0 |
| 6. | Duncan McGuire | F | Orlando City | 57 | 2994 | 23 | 6 |
| 7. | Ilijah Paul | F | Real Salt Lake | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 8. | Stephen Afrifa | F | Sporting Kansas City | 27 | 840 | 4 | 1 |
| 9. | Owen O'Malley | D | St. Louis City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10. | Daniel Munie | D | San Jose | 20 | 1220 | 0 | 0 |
| 11. | Joey Skinner | D | Nashville SC | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | Patrick Agyemang | F | Charlotte FC | 43 | 2020 | 11 | 5 |
| 13. | CJ Fodrey | F | Austin FC | 15 | 217 | 0 | 1 |
| 14. | Max Arfsten | F | Columbus Crew | 43 | 2245 | 6 | 10 |
| 15. | Noel Caliskan | M | Portland Timbers | 9 | 465 | 0 | 1 |
| 16. | Bertin Jacquesson | F | Real Salt Lake | 10 | 354 | 0 | 1 |
| 17. | Abdi Salim | D | Orlando City | 3 | 147 | 0 | 0 |
| 18. | Cole Jensen | GK | Inter Miami | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19. | Ryen Jiba | F | Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20. | Valentin Noel† | M | Austin FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21. | Elian Haddock* | GK | NY Red Bulls | - | - | - | - |
| 22. | Joey Akpunonu | D | FC Cincinnati | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 23. | Gino Vivi | M | LA Galaxy | 3 | 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 24. | Herbert Endeley | F | FC Dallas | 12 | 320 | 0 | 0 |
| 25. | Emeka Eneli | M | Real Salt Lake | 54 | 3987 | 1 | 3 |
| 26. | Malcom Johnston* | M | New York City FC | - | - | - | - |
| 27. | Xavier Zengue | D | Columbus Crew | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 28. | Holden Trent | GK | Philadelphia Union | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 29. | Levonte Johnson | F | Vancouver | 32 | 863 | 0 | 0 |
And by forward Max Arfsten, who fought his way into the starting lineup of Columbus Crew, where he has six goals and 10 assists in 43. And by forward Patrick Agyemang of Charlotte FC, who has 11 goals and 5 assists in 43 appearances. And by midfielder Emeka Eneli of Real Salt Lake, who logged an astonishing 3,987 minutes over 54 appearances these past two years.
Agyemang was the 12th pick overall, Arfsten the 14th. Eneli was the 25th pick — Real Salt Lake saw something in him that most of the rest of the league overlooked.
