MLS Announces Nominees for Year End Awards

Yesterday, Major League Soccer announced the finalists to its year-end awards honoring the best-of-the-best from the 2016 MLS season. The players below earned their spot after securing the most votes from three distinct groups: current MLS players, MLS club staff (including coaches, technical directors, chief business officers and PR directors) and select media members. While the announcement dates are listed with each award below, the AT&T Goal of the Year and MLS Save of the Year will be decided by the fans at MLSsoccer.com from now through Nov. 11.

Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player Finalists (December 6)
Sacha Kljestan (New York Red Bulls)
David Villa (New York City FC)
Bradley Wright-Phillips (New York Red Bulls)

Defender of the Year Finalists (November 11)
Matt Hedges (FC Dallas)
Axel Sjoberg (Colorado Rapids)
Jelle Van Damme (LA Galaxy)

Allstate Goalkeeper of the Year Finalists (November 17)
Andre Blake (Philadelphia Union)
Tim Howard (Colorado Rapids)
Luis Robles (New York Red Bulls)

Newcomer of the Year Finalists (November 21)
Ola Kamara (Columbus Crew SC)
Nicolas Lodeiro (Seattle Sounders FC)
Jelle Van Damme (LA Galaxy)

*For this award, “newcomer” is defined as a player with previous professional experience who made his MLS debut in 2016.

AT&T Rookie of the Year Finalists (November 10)
Jack Harrison (New York City FC)
Jordan Morris (Seattle Sounders FC)
Keegan Rosenberry (Philadelphia Union)

Coach of the Year Finalists (November 29)
Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
Oscar Pareja (FC Dallas)
Patrick Vieira (New York City FC)