The award was renamed in 2015 in honor of its 2009 winner, Landon Donovan

The Landon Donovan MVP Award is an annual award for Major League Soccer players. It is voted on by media, MLS players, and club management and is given to the player deemed the most valuable player in the league each season.

From 1996 to 2007, the award was known as the Honda MLS Most Valuable Player, for commercial purposes. From 2007 to 2014, the award was titled the Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player.

Players for D.C. United have won the award a record four times, while Kansas City and Los Angeles Galaxy players have won a second best three times. Carlos Valderrama won the award for the inaugural 1996 season. Kansas City's Preki is the only player to ever win twice, in 1997 and 2003.

On January 15, 2015, MLS renamed its MVP award in honor of Landon Donovan.[1][2]

Winners

Carlos Valderrama won the inaugural award for the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 1996
Preki is the only two-time MVP winner.
Tony Meola is the only goalkeeper to win the MVP award.
In 2011, Dwayne De Rosario became the first Canadian player to win MVP.
Carlos Vela scored a record 34 goals during his 2019 MVP season.
Season Player Club Other Finalists
1996 Colombia Carlos Valderrama Tampa Bay Mutiny Roy Lassiter, Preki
1997 United States Preki Kansas City Wizards Marco Etcheverry, Carlos Valderrama
1998 Bolivia Marco Etcheverry D.C. United Cobi Jones, Peter Nowak
1999 United States Jason Kreis Dallas Burn Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno
2000 United States Tony Meola Kansas City Wizards Mamadou Diallo, Clint Mathis
2001 Honduras Alex Pineda Chacón Miami Fusion Jeff Agoos, Diego Serna
2002 Guatemala Carlos Ruíz Los Angeles Galaxy Mark Chung, Taylor Twellman
2003 United States Preki (2) Kansas City Wizards Ante Razov, John Spencer
2004 Honduras Amado Guevara MetroStars Joe Cannon, Jaime Moreno
2005 United States Taylor Twellman New England Revolution Dwayne De Rosario, Jaime Moreno
2006 Argentina Christian Gómez D.C. United Jeff Cunningham, Dwayne De Rosario
2007 Brazil Luciano Emilio D.C. United Juan Pablo Ángel, Cuauhtémoc Blanco
2008 Argentina Guillermo Barros Schelotto Columbus Crew Landon Donovan, Cuauhtémoc Blanco
2009 United States Landon Donovan Los Angeles Galaxy Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Cunningham
2010 Colombia David Ferreira[3] FC Dallas Edson Buddle, Chris Wondolowski
2011 Canada Dwayne De Rosario[4] D.C. United Brad Davis, Brek Shea
2012 United States Chris Wondolowski[5] San Jose Earthquakes Thierry Henry, Graham Zusi
2013 United States Mike Magee[6] Chicago Fire Robbie Keane, Marco Di Vaio
2014 Republic of Ireland Robbie Keane[7] Los Angeles Galaxy Lee Nguyen, Obafemi Martins
2015 Italy Sebastian Giovinco[8] Toronto FC Kei Kamara, Benny Feilhaber
2016 Spain David Villa[9] New York City FC Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan
2017 Argentina Diego Valeri[10] Portland Timbers David Villa, Nemanja Nikolić
2018 Venezuela Josef Martínez[11] Atlanta United FC Miguel Almirón, Zlatan Ibrahimović
2019 Mexico Carlos Vela[12] Los Angeles FC Zlatan Ibrahimović, Josef Martínez
2020 Spain Alejandro Pozuelo[13] Toronto FC Andre Blake, Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris, Diego Rossi
2021 Spain Carles Gil[14] New England Revolution Hany Mukhtar, João Paulo, Dániel Sallói, Valentín Castellanos
2022 Germany Hany Mukhtar[15] Nashville SC Sebastián Driussi, Andre Blake
2023 Argentina Luciano Acosta[16] FC Cincinnati Thiago Almada, Denis Bouanga

Wins by team

Club Wins
D.C. United 4
Kansas City Wizards/Sporting KC 3
LA Galaxy 3
Dallas Burn/FC Dallas 2
New England Revolution 2
Toronto FC 2
Atlanta United FC 1
Chicago Fire 1
FC Cincinnati 1
Columbus Crew 1
Los Angeles FC 1
Miami Fusion 1
Nashville SC 1
New York City FC 1
NY/NJ MetroStars/New York Red Bulls 1
Portland Timbers 1
San Jose Earthquakes 1
Tampa Bay Mutiny 1

Wins by nationality

Nationality Wins
 United States 8
 Argentina 4
 Spain 3
 Colombia 2
 Honduras 2
 Bolivia 1
 Brazil 1
 Canada 1
 Germany 1
 Guatemala 1
 Ireland 1
 Italy 1
 Mexico 1
 Venezuela 1

See also

References

  1. ^ "Major League Soccer names Most Valuable Player award after Landon Donovan". Major League Soccer. January 16, 2015. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  2. ^ McCarthy, Kyle (January 15, 2015). "Major League Soccer renames MVP award to honor Landon Donovan". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  3. ^ "FC Dallas attacker Ferreira voted 2010 Volkswagen MVP". Major League Soccer. November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
  4. ^ Doyle, Matthew (November 18, 2011). "D.C. United's De Rosario voted Volkswagen MLS MVP". Major League Soccer. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  5. ^ Borg, Simon (November 29, 2012). "San Jose's Wondolowski wins 2012 Volkswagen MLS MVP". Major League Soccer. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
  6. ^ Borg, Simon (December 5, 2013). "Chicago Fire forward Mike Magee voted 2013 Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player". Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  7. ^ "Robbie Keane named 2014 Volkswagen MLS Most Valuable Player". LA Galaxy. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  8. ^ Molinaro, John (December 2, 2015). "TFC's Giovinco named Major League Soccer MVP". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved December 2, 2015.
  9. ^ Rodriguez, Alicia (December 6, 2016). "New York City FC forward David Villa wins 2016 Landon Donovan MLS MVP". Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  10. ^ Boehm, Charles (December 4, 2017). "Portland Timbers' Diego Valeri wins 2017 Landon Donovan MLS MVP award". Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  11. ^ Bogert, Tom (December 5, 2018). "Atlanta United's Josef Martinez wins 2018 Landon Donovan MLS MVP award". Major League Soccer. Retrieved December 5, 2018.
  12. ^ Rodriguez, Alicia (November 4, 2019). "Carlos Vela is 2019 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player". Major League Soccer. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  13. ^ "Alejandro Pozuelo named 2020 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player". Major League Soccer. December 7, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  14. ^ "New England Revolution's Carles Gil named 2021 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player". Major League Soccer. December 7, 2021. Retrieved December 7, 2021.
  15. ^ "Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar named 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP". Major League Soccer. November 1, 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  16. ^ "FC Cincinnati's Luciano Acosta named 2023 Landon Donovan MLS MVP". Major League Soccer. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
Categories