More Canadians Than Ever Before on MLS Payrolls

With the Major League Soccer player's union releasing their list of salaries today, it was confirmed that more Canadian than ever are making a living playing in the league. There are 25 Canadians currently on MLS contracts, up from 19 in 2014.

This does not include Toronto, ON native Steven Vitoria, who was listed by the MLS player's union as the highest paid Canadian in MLS with a salary of $400,000.

The Philadelphia Union defender, however, has chosen to represent Portugal internationally. The same can be said of Hamilton born Teal Bunbury who is cap-tied to the United States.

That means the highest paid Canadian player currently in MLS is Portland Timber's captain Will Johnson, who makes $334,333 in guaranteed compensation. Johnson is nearing 200 games played in the league and is certainly worth his salary.

On top of Johnson, six other Canadians are earning over $100,000 in guaranteed compensation as the league becomes more profitable for players. The league's salary budget per team is currently at $3.49 million will rise over the next five years of the current CBA.

Marcel De Jong of Sporting KC earns $191,500 in guaranteed compensation, Montreal Impact's Patrice Bernier makes $135,000, Cyle Larin of Orlando City SC earns $167,000, Toronto FC's Ashtone Morgan earns $112,000, while Jonathan Osorio makes $152,599 and Vancouver Whitecaps Russel Teibert makes $167,500.

The Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC are tied for the lead in terms of number of Canadians on their payrolls with seven each. Between the two they have 56 per cent of all of the league's Canadian players. The recent acquisition of Kyle Bekker means Montreal now has six.

That trade also means that of the 25 Canadians earning money in Major League Soccer, only five are doing so outside of Canada. This is up from four in the last two seasons.

For Toronto FC Osorio is the highest paid Canadian at $152,599 followed by Ashtone Morgan at $112,000. Jay Chapman makes $88,500 while Jordan Hamilton makes $75,500. Manny Aparicio, Chris Mannella and Quillan Roberts all make the league minimum of $60,000.

Canadian players now earn a combined amount of $2,437,798. This is up from the collective $1,805,763 that they made last season. To put that in perspective, however, all 25 Canadians combined earn a little over a third of what Toronto FC's Sebastian Giovinco makes.

The average Canadian player's salary is also up, to $97,511 after it was $95,040 in 2014. This is still down significantly from 2013, when it was $104,728. However this is due to the fact that most of the Canadian players on payroll are young and 38 per cent of Canadians earn the league minimum.

One can only hope these trends will continue, but with the roster rules Major League Soccer have put in place it is going to be difficult for the Canadian contingent to get much bigger, or better paid than the present.

Full Canadian Salary Figures