Toronto FC has traded an international roster spot to FC Dallas for the remainder of the 2021 season in exchange for US$225,000 in general allocation money.
The acquisition means Dallas now has 10 international roster spots this season.
In 2021, Major League Soccer has a total of 216 international roster slots divided among its 27 clubs. The roster slots are tradable, with no limit on the number of international slots a team can have.
Toronto currently has six international players -- Ifunanyachi Achara (NIgeria), Auro (Brazil), Tsubasa Endoh (Japan), Erickson Gallardo (Venezuela), Chris Mavinga (France) and Alejandro Pozuelo (Spain) -- on its first-team roster.
It has one international spot open, which presumably is being kept for a third designated player.
Also players that are on injured reserve do not occupy a roster slot so the team is currently only using four of the seven international spots -- with Achara and Gallardo on injured reserve.
Allocation money is money available to a club in addition to its salary budget. It can be used to "buy down" a player's salary budget charge, sign a player or off-set player acquisition costs, among other things.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2021.
The Canadian Press