Goalkeeper Josh Cohen files complaint against Atlanta United for violating MLS rules

May 2024 · 3 minute read

A representative for American goalkeeper Josh Cohen, who is currently without a club, has alleged that Atlanta United violated MLS rules while attempting to sign the player, in a complaint to the league that was viewed and verified by The Athletic. After this story published on Wednesday, an MLS spokesperson told The Athletic that no rule has been violated.

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In MLS, unattached players have to be signed via the discovery process. In the discovery process, each MLS team maintains a list (the “discovery list”) of up to seven players that it will have priority right to sign ahead of any other MLS team. Teams can then either negotiate a deal with the player or trade the player’s discovery rights to another club.

Cohen, 31, is on Atlanta United’s discovery list, and had been in negotiations to join the club after spending the previous four years in Israel with Maccabi Haifa, where he appeared in the UEFA Champions League, won three league titles and was named the 2020-21 Footballer of the Year in Israel. Cohen’s contract expired this summer and the goalkeeper wanted to pursue opportunities in MLS or elsewhere.

The 2023 MLS roster rules state that a team must make a “a genuine, objectively reasonable offer” to keep a player on their discovery list within three days if another MLS club offers $50,000 in general allocation money for the player’s discovery rights. MLS’s position is that Atlanta United made Cohen such an offer.

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In the complaint, Cohen’s representatives allege Atlanta offered a deal that was well below market value for Cohen. The complaint does not specify whether another club offered Atlanta the requisite allocation money.

According to the complaint, Atlanta’s final contract proposal to Cohen before the MLS roster freeze on Sept. 15 would have placed him on Atlanta United 2 — the club’s second team, which plays in the third tier of professional soccer in America — for the rest of the season. With Atlanta holding his rights, Cohen could not negotiate with other MLS clubs despite not being under contract.

The complaint has requested that MLS remove Cohen from Atlanta’s discovery list, and also states that they will not negotiate with Atlanta in the future.

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Atlanta United provided the following statement: “We’re aware of the complaint but, per club policy, we won’t comment on contract negotiations nor on an ongoing complaint.”

Cohen can still sign abroad right now, as free agents aren’t beholden to transfer windows closing, but if he wants to pursue MLS, he will have to wait until the winter ahead of the 2024 season as the roster freeze date has passed for the 2023 season.

Cohen made six appearances in the Champions League group stage last year with Maccabi Haifa and was included in a U.S. national team camp in June. He won three league titles with Haifa and was named Footballer of the Year following the 2020-21 season in Israel. He made 161 appearances with Haifa after arriving in 2019. He previously featured for Sacramento Republic in the USL Championship.

(Photo: John Dorton/USSF/Getty Images)

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