The Best MLS Player ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS). It was first awarded as part of the ESPY Awards in 2006. The Best MLS Player ESPY Award trophy, designed by sculptor Lawrence Nowlan, is presented to the MLS player adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year at the annual ESPY Awards ceremony in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Balloting for the award is undertaken by fans over the Internet from between three and five nominees selected by the ESPN Select Nominating Committee, which is composed by a panel of experts. It is conferred in July to reflect performance and achievement over the preceding twelve months, which generally includes a portion of each of two MLS seasons. The inaugural winner of the Best MLS Player ESPY Award was

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

forward Landon Donovan in 2006. He is one of two people to have been presented with the award more than once in its history, winning it a further four times in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011; he also earned a nomination in 2008. English right midfielder David Beckham, also for LA Galaxy, has been the second most successful player, winning twice in 2008 and 2012. American players have been the most successful with five wins and twenty-eight nominations, while those who play in the position of a forward have been recognized on fourteen occasions, and those who have played for LA Galaxy have won a total of nine awards. It was not awarded in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The most recent winner of the award was Carlos Vela of Los Angeles FC in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Winners and nominees

Statistics

See also

References

External links