[MLS] MLS will hold a weighted lottery Wednesday for teams wishing to acquire rights to midfielder Sal Zizzo, the California product who is returning from Germany.

The former U-20 and U-23 international (one cap for the senior team) was released last month by German club Hannover, for which he played only eight games in 3 1/2 years. Illness and a string of injuries, including a torn ACL last fall, hampered his efforts to establish first-team status for the club that employs U.S. defender Steve Cherundolo.

Zizzo signed with MLS over the weekend. In the weighted lottery, participating teams are ranked in reverse order by their records over the last 30 games. Expansion club Philadelphia is relegated to the bottom of the list, due to its favored status at the 2010 SuperDraft and top spot in the allocation order at the time of the draft. Teams must declare their intent to participate.

The team that wins Zizzo's rights cannot participate in future weighted lotteries until all teams secure a player by this process or if all other teams decline to participate for a particular player. Teams are not obligated to vie for a player's rights.

Zizzo, 23, is a San Diego native who played two seasons at UCLA and for the U.S. at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. A skillful and tricky winger, he debuted for the senior team in a friendly against Sweden after the U-20 World Cup without earning a subsequent call-up.