# Best MLS Player ESPY Award

The Best MLS Player ESPY Award is an annual award honoring the achievements of an individual from the world of Major League Soccer (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. 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 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 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent winner of the award was Carlos Vela of Los Angeles FC in 2022.

## Winners and nominees

Key :
| * | Player's team won the MLS Cup |
| † | Player's team lost the MLS Cup |
| ‡ | MLS Cup Most Valuable Player |
Best MLS Player ESPY Award winners and nominees :
| Year | Image | Player | Nation | Team | Position | Other nominees |
| 2006 | | Landon Donovan | USA | LA Galaxy | Forward | Dwayne De Rosario ( CAN) – San Jose Earthquakes Jaime Moreno ( BOL) – D.C. United Taylor Twellman ( USA) – New England Revolution |
| 2007 | | Landon Donovan (2) | USA | LA Galaxy | Forward | Jeff Cunningham ( USA) – Toronto FC Christian Gómez ( ARG) – D.C. United Matt Reis ( USA) – New England Revolution |
| 2008 | | David Beckham | ENG | LA Galaxy | Right midfielder | Juan Pablo Ángel ( COL) – New York Red Bulls Cuauhtémoc Blanco ( MEX) – Chicago Fire Landon Donovan ( USA) – LA Galaxy Luciano Emílio ( BRA) – D.C. United |
| 2009 | | Landon Donovan (3) | USA | LA Galaxy | Forward | Juan Pablo Ángel ( COL) – New York Red Bulls Jon Busch ( USA) – Chicago Fire Kenny Cooper ( USA) – FC Dallas Guillermo Barros Schelotto ( ARG) – Columbus Crew |
| 2010 | | Landon Donovan (4)† | USA | LA Galaxy | Forward | Conor Casey ( USA) – Colorado Rapids Jeff Cunningham ( USA) – FC Dallas Shalrie Joseph ( GRD) – New England Revolution Kasey Keller ( USA) – Seattle Sounders FC |
| 2011 | | Landon Donovan (5)*‡ | USA | LA Galaxy | Forward | Edson Buddle ( USA) – LA Galaxy David Ferreira ( COL) – FC Dallas Chris Wondolowski ( USA) – San Jose Earthquakes |
| 2012 | | David Beckham (2) | ENG | LA Galaxy | Right midfielder | Dwayne De Rosario ( CAN) – D.C. United Brad Davis ( USA) – Houston Dynamo Chris Wondolowski ( USA) – San Jose Earthquakes |
| 2013 | | Thierry Henry | FRA | New York Red Bulls | Forward | Chris Wondolowski ( USA) – San Jose Earthquakes Graham Zusi ( USA) – Sporting Kansas City |
| 2014 | | Tim Cahill | AUS | New York Red Bulls | Forward | Marco Di Vaio ( ITA) – Montreal Impact Robbie Keane ( IRL) – LA Galaxy Mike Magee ( USA) – Chicago Fire |
| 2015 | | Robbie Keane*‡ | IRL | LA Galaxy | Forward | Obafemi Martins ( NGA) – Seattle Sounders FC Lee Nguyen ( USA) – New England Revolution Bradley Wright-Phillips ( ENG) – New York Red Bulls |
| 2016 | | Sebastian Giovinco | ITA | Toronto FC | Forward | Kei Kamara ( SLE) – New England Revolution Laurent Ciman ( BEL) – Montreal Impact Luis Robles ( USA) – New York Red Bulls |
| 2017 | | David Villa | ESP | New York City FC | Forward | Andre Blake ( JAM) – Philadelphia Union Stefan Frei ( SUI) – Seattle Sounders FC Matt Hedges ( USA) – FC Dallas Bradley Wright-Phillips ( ENG) – New York Red Bulls |
| 2018 | | Nemanja Nikolić | HUN | Chicago Fire | Forward | Tim Melia ( USA) – Sporting Kansas City Ike Opara ( USA) – Sporting Kansas City Diego Valeri ( ARG) – Portland Timbers |
| 2019 | | Zlatan Ibrahimović | SWE | LA Galaxy | Forward | Josef Martínez ( VEN) – Atlanta United FC Aaron Long ( USA) – New York Red Bulls Wayne Rooney ( ENG) – D.C. United |
| 2020 | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | | Diego Rossi | URU | Los Angeles FC | Forward | Andre Blake ( JAM) – Philadelphia Union Alejandro Pozuelo ( ESP) – Toronto FC Lucas Zelarayán ( ARM) – Columbus Crew |
| 2022 | | Carlos Vela | MEX | Los Angeles FC | Forward | Valentín Castellanos ( ARG) – New York City FC Jesús Ferreira ( USA) – FC Dallas Carles Gil ( ESP) – New England Revolution |

## Statistics

Multiple winners and nominees :
| Name | Wins | Nominations |
| Landon Donovan | 5 | 6 |
| David Beckham | 2 | 2 |
| Robbie Keane | 1 | 2 |
| Chris Wondolowski | 0 | 3 |
| Juan Pablo Ángel | 0 | 2 |
| Andre Blake | 0 | 2 |
| Jeff Cunningham | 0 | 2 |
| Dwayne De Rosario | 0 | 2 |
| Bradley Wright-Phillips | 0 | 2 |
Winners by team represented :
| Team | Wins | Nominations |
| LA Galaxy | 9 | 12 |
| New York Red Bulls | 2 | 8 |
| Chicago Fire | 1 | 4 |
| Toronto FC | 1 | 3 |
| New York City FC | 1 | 2 |
| Los Angeles FC | 2 | 2 |
| New England Revolution | 0 | 6 |
| D.C. United | 0 | 5 |
| FC Dallas | 0 | 5 |
| San Jose Earthquakes | 0 | 4 |
| Seattle Sounders FC | 0 | 3 |
| Sporting Kansas City | 0 | 3 |
| Columbus Crew | 0 | 2 |
| Montreal Impact | 0 | 2 |
| Philadelphia Union | 0 | 2 |
| Atlanta United FC | 0 | 1 |
| Colorado Rapids | 0 | 1 |
| Houston Dynamo | 0 | 1 |
| Portland Timbers | 0 | 1 |
Winners by nation represented :
| Country | Winners | Nominations |
| USA | 5 | 28 |
| ENG | 2 | 5 |
| ESP | 1 | 3 |
| IRL | 1 | 2 |
| ITA | 1 | 2 |
| MEX | 1 | 2 |
| AUS | 1 | 1 |
| HUN | 1 | 1 |
| SWE | 1 | 1 |
| URU | 1 | 1 |
| ARG | 0 | 4 |
| COL | 0 | 3 |
| CAN | 0 | 2 |
| JAM | 0 | 2 |
| ARM | 0 | 1 |
| BEL | 0 | 1 |
| BOL | 0 | 1 |
| BRA | 0 | 1 |
| GRD | 0 | 1 |
| NGA | 0 | 1 |
| SLE | 0 | 1 |
| SUI | 0 | 1 |
| VEN | 0 | 1 |