Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible in the Player category an individual must have met Number 1 and either Number 2 or Number 3 of the following criteria:

1.) Retired as a player for at least three full calendar years but no more than 10 years.

2.) Played at least 20 full international games for the United States. This requirement is reduced to 10 games if the games were prior to 1990.

3.) Played at least 5 seasons in an American first-division professional league and was selected as a league all-star at least once.

Players who have met either Number 2 or Number 3 of the above criteria but who retired more than 10 years ago are automatically placed on the Veterans eligibility list.

Any player named on less than 5% of the ballots is dropped from the eligibility list and placed on the Veterans list when he/she meets the Veterans’ eligibility criteria. (effective with the 2007 ballot results)

Selection Committee
The Committee consists of all present and former coaches of the Men’s and Women’s full National Team; all active MLS coaches with a minimum of 4 years as Head Coach; MLS management representatives; MLS Commissioner; US Soccer Secretary General; designated members of the media; all Hall of Famers.

Procedure
Committee members may vote for up to 10 candidates from the ballot. No write-in votes will be counted.

Election Criteria
Any player named on at least 66.7% of the ballots cast is elected.

If no player meets the new election threshold, a second round ballot will be conducted among those voters who participated in the initial round of balloting. The five players who received the most votes in the first round will be placed on the second ballot. Voters will be asked to rank the players on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis with 5 being the most deserving player. The player who receives the most points will be elected to the Hall of Fame. If there is a tie for most points, all those tied will be elected to the Hall of Fame.