Allocation ranking

The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the League after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. The allocation rankings may also be used in the event two or more clubs file a request for the same player on the same day. The allocations will be ranked in reverse order of finish for the 2011 season, taking playoff performance into account.

Once the club uses its allocation ranking to acquire a player, it drops to the bottom of the list. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking. At all times, each club is assigned one ranking. The rankings reset at the end of each MLS League season.^[2]

More information Original Ranking, Club ...

Original Ranking	Club	Date Allocation Used	Player Signed	Player Nation	Previous Club	Club Nation	Ref
1	Montreal Impact †	February 17, 2012	Eddie Johnson	United States	Fulham	England	[3]
2	Philadelphia Union‡	June 26, 2012	Bakary Soumaré	Mali	US Boulogne	France	[4]
3	New England Revolution	August 27, 2012	Juan Toja	Colombia	Aris	Greece	[5]
4	Seattle Sounders FC∞	September 14, 2012	Marcus Hahnemann	United States	Everton	England	[6]
5	Chivas USA
6	San Jose Earthquakes
7	D.C. United
8	Portland Timbers
9	Chicago Fire
10	Columbus Crew
11	Colorado Rapids	March 28, 2012	Kamani Hill	United States	Vitória	Portugal	[7]
12	FC Dallas
13	New York Red Bulls	August 8, 2012	Luis Robles	United States	Karlsruher SC	Germany	[8]

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† Montreal immediately traded Johnson to Seattle in exchange for Mike Fucito and Lamar Neagle.

‡Vancouver originally had the No. 2 ranking, but traded it to Philadelphia on June 26.

∞Toronto originally had the No. 4 ranking, but traded it to Seattle on September 14.

The remaining order after FC Dallas is: Vancouver Whitecaps FC (from Philadelphia), Toronto FC (from Seattle), Sporting Kansas City, Real Salt Lake, Houston Dynamo and Los Angeles Galaxy. In the unlikely event that all clubs use an allocation, the order begins anew with Montreal Impact, Colorado Rapids, Philadelphia Union, New York Red Bulls New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders FC.

Weighted lottery

Some players are assigned to MLS teams via a weighted lottery process. A team can only acquire one player per year through a weighted lottery. The players made available through lotteries include: (i) Generation adidas players signed after the MLS SuperDraft; and (ii) Draft eligible players to whom an MLS contract was offered but who failed to sign with the League prior to the SuperDraft.

The team with the worst record over its last 30 regular season games (dating back to previous season if necessary and taking playoff performance into account) will have the greatest probability of winning the lottery. Teams are not required to participate in a lottery. Players are assigned via the lottery system in order to prevent a player from potentially influencing his destination club with a strategic holdout.

The results of 2012 weighted lotteries thus far:

More information Lottery Date, Player ...

Lottery Date	Player	Player Nation	Position	Winning Club	Other Clubs Participating	Ref
December 15, 2011	Lee Nguyen	USA	MF	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Toronto FC, FC Dallas, Houston Dynamo, Real Salt Lake, Los Angeles Galaxy	[9]
September 13, 2012	Marcus Tracy	USA	FW	San Jose Earthquakes	New England Revolution, FC Dallas, Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake, Chicago Fire, New York Red Bulls, Seattle Sounders FC

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CONCACAF Champions League

Prior to the start of the MLS regular season, Toronto FC defeated Los Angeles Galaxy while Mexican side Santos Laguna defeated Seattle Sounders FC in two of the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series. Toronto FC then lost 3–7 on aggregate in the semifinal with Santos Laguna.^[10]

In the 2012–13 CCL, Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake earned group stage spots (the preliminary round has been eliminated). The Canadian representative, determined by the 2012 Canadian Championship, was Toronto FC.

At the end of the groups stages, the Los Angeles Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, and Houston Dynamo qualified for the quarterfinals, which will be played in March 2013.

MLS All-Star Game

The 2012 MLS All-Star Game was played on July 25 at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, home stadium of the Philadelphia Union. As has been the format every year since 2005, the MLS All-Stars played an international club; the 2012 opponent was England's Chelsea FC, 2012 champions of both the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League and visiting side in the 2006 MLS All-Star Game (when they lost to the All-Stars, 1–0, at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois).^[11] The MLS All-Stars won the game 3–2.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

For the 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament, U.S. Soccer has increased the size of the main tournament from 40 to 64 clubs, assembling the competition so that all U.S.-based Major League Soccer clubs gain entry.^[12] On August 8, 2012, Sporting Kansas City defeated the Seattle Sounders on penalties to win the franchise's second open cup title.^[13]

Canadian Championship

The three Canadian-based MLS clubs, Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, along with NASL club FC Edmonton, competed for the Voyageurs Cup, Canada's national championship trophy. The tournament is organized in a knockout format with two-legged ties in both the semifinals and final, with the away goals rule in place. Toronto defeated Vancouver in the finals, their fourth consecutive national championship, and qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League.

MLS Cup

The MLS Cup playoffs took place after the conclusion of the regular season. For 2012, the playoff structure underwent several changes:

• The playoffs will no longer feature wild cards and the possibility of "crossovers" (i.e. teams from opposite conferences playing in the early rounds). Instead, the top five clubs in each conference's standings will qualify for the playoffs and will play in the following manner:
  • The 4th place team will host the 5th place team in a single "play-in" match, with the winner advancing to the conference semifinals.
  • The Conference Semifinals will again be a two-game aggregate goal setup as before (with extra time and penalty kicks employed if the aggregate is level after 180 minutes). The 1st place team will play the winner of the 4th/5th game, while the 2nd and 3rd place teams play each other. The lower-seeded team will host the first leg of each semifinal.
  • The semifinal winners will play each other in the Conference Finals, which will be altered to a two-game aggregate series patterned after the semifinal round (before this year, this round was a single-game format).
• The Conference Final winners will advance to the MLS Cup Championship Game, which for the first time will be played at the home stadium of the finalist with the better regular season point total; before this season, the game was played at a predetermined site.