Major League Soccer announced the finalists for its 2025 year-end awards on Thursday.
Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi, who won last year’s Landon Donovan MLS MVP and whose three-year contract extension through 2028 was announced Thursday, is one of five finalists for the award again along with Denis Bouanga (Los Angeles FC), Anders Dreyer (San Diego FC), Evander (FC Cincinnati) and Sam Surridge (Nashville SC).
Messi led MLS in goals (29) and assists (19) this season. The other four finalists round out the top five goal-scorers, but Dreyer and Evander are the only two that are also in the top five for assists.
The three finalists for Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year are the Philadelphia Union’s Bradley Carnell, Vancouver Whitecaps’ Jesper Sorensen and San Diego’s Mikey Varas.
Dreyer, who signed with expansion side San Diego and had 19 goals and 19 assists to lead the squad to the top seed in the Western Conference, is also one of three finalists for MLS Newcomer of the Year, alongside Son Heung-Min (LAFC) and Philip Zinckernagel (Chicago Fire).
The MLS Young Player of the Year finalists (born on or after Jan. 1, 2003) are Orlando City’s Alex Freeman, Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna and the Seattle Sounders’ Obed Vargas.
The three finalists for MLS Defender of the Year are a pair of Philadelphia teammates in Jakob Glesnes and Kai Wagner as well as Tristan Blackmon of Vancouver.
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year finalists are Matt Freese of New York City FC, Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United) and Yohei Takaoka (Vancouver), who led the league with 13 clean sheets.
The finalists for MLS Comeback Player of the Year are Houston Dynamo’s Lawrence Ennali, Nick Hagglund of Cincinnati and Toronto FC’s Richie Laryea.
Finally, the three finalists for the Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award, which honors an MLS player who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community during the 2025 season, are Ryan Hollingshead (LAFC), Luna (RSL) and Brad Stuver (Austin FC).
The winners for these awards will be announced throughout the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, which began Wednesday night with Chicago beating Orlando and Portland beating Salt Lake in the wild-card matches.
MLS Goal of the Year and Save of the Year will be decided by an online vote and announced on Oct. 27.
The MLS Best XI will also be revealed at a later date.
–Field Level Media
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