And the winner is…
Long ago — in February — Southeast Soccer Report’s Major League Soccer writers predicted the league’s end-of-year awards. Finalists for said awards have been announced; how did we do?
Son Heung-Min holds up an LAFC jersey at the news conference announcing the Korean legend’s signing with the Major League Soccer team. Son is the favorite to win the MLS Newcomer of the Year award. CREDIT: Major League Soccer
How predictable was MLS 2025?
Not very. The defending champion Galaxy and big-spending Five Stripes tanked, Philadelphia and Vancouver outperformed expectations and an expansion team won the Western Conference. So if the picks Southeast Soccer Report made eight months ago seem a little silly, it’s been that kind of season.
The playoffs are barely underway, so this report focuses on individual awards. We’ll take a look at the finalists for each award — players who earned the highest average votes from MLS club technical staff, MLS players and select media members — and then at our writers’ predictions.
The original Southeast Soccer Report panel included Calum Ewing and Forrest Wimberly, who cover Atlanta United; Ronan Briscoe, Nashville; Alex McCaskey, Charlotte; and Ken Garner, Inter Miami.
Let’s review:
Landon Donovan MLS MVP
FINALISTS — Denis Bouanga, LAFC; Anders Dreyer, San Diego FC; Evander, FC Cincinnati; Lionel Messi, Inter Miami CF; and Sam Surridge, Nashville SC
ALEX: Messi
CALUM: Messi
FORREST: Messi
KEN: Messi
RONAN: Messi
MLS Coach of the Year
FINALISTS — Bradley Carnell, Philadelphia Union; Jesper Sørensen, Vancouver Whitecaps FC; Mikey Varas; San Diego FC
ALEX: Dean Smith, Charlotte FC
CALUM: Mikey Varas, San Diego FC
FORREST: Wilfried Nancy, Columbus
KEN: Ronny Deila, Atlanta United
RONAN: Ronny Deila, Atlanta, with honorable mentions to Brian Schmetzer, BJ Callaghan and Mikey Varas
MLS Newcomer of the Year
“Newcomer” is defined as a player with previous professional experience who made his MLS debut in 2025.
FINALISTS — Anders Dreyer, San Diego FC; Son Heung-Min, LAFC; Philip Zinckernagel; Chicago Fire FC
ALEX: Wilfried Zaha, Charlotte FC
CALUM: Myrto Uzuni, Austin FC
FORREST: Emmanuel Latte Lath, Atlanta
KEN: Emmanuel Latte Lath, Atlanta
RONAN: Miguel Almiron, Atlanta United.
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year
FINALISTS — Matt Freese, New York City FC; Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United FC; Yohei Takaoka, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
ALEX: Stefan Frei, Seattle Sounders
CALUM: Kristijan Kahlina, Charlotte FC
FORREST: Stefan Frei, Seattle Sounders
KEN: Dayne St. Clair, Minnesota United
RONAN: Roman Celentano, FC Cincinnati
Awards already decided
Golden Boot (Lionel Messi, 29 goals)
ALEX: Patrick Agyemang, Charlotte FC
CALUM: Kevin Denkey, FC Cincinnati
FORREST: Cristian “Chicho” Arango, San Jose
KEN: Messi
RONAN: Messi
U.S. Open Cup (Nashville SC)
ALEX: Seattle Sounders
CALUM: Minnesota United
FORREST: Charleston Battery
KEN: Orlando City
RONAN: Nashville SC
Leagues Cup (Seattle Sounders)
ALEX: Columbus Crew
CALUM: Club America
FORREST: Cruz Azul
KEN: FC Cincinnati
RONAN: FC Cincinnati
To be determined…
Finally, a reminder of our playoff predictions — and, did we mention this was eight months ago? Check back at the end of the season to see how we did.
Eastern Conference finalist
ALEX: Inter Miami
CALUM: Atlanta United
FORREST: Columbus Crew
KEN: Inter Miami
RONAN: FC Cincinnati
Western Conference finalist
ALEX: Seattle Sounders
CALUM: L.A. Galaxy
FORREST: LAFC
KEN: Seattle Sounders
RONAN: Seattle Sounders
MLS Cup champions
ALEX: Seattle Sounders
CALUM: L.A. Galaxy
FORREST: Columbus Crew
KEN: Inter Miami
RONAN: Seattle Sounders
Other individual awards
We didn’t predict winners of all the league’s individual awards. Here are those worthy players:
MLS Young Player of the Year
Given to the best young player during the 2025 MLS regular season. Eligible players must be born on or after Jan. 1, 2003
FINALISTS — Alex Freeman, Orlando City SC; Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake; Obed Vargas; Seattle Sounders FC
MLS Defender of the Year
Given to the best defender during the 2025 MLS regular season.
FINALISTS — Tristan Blackmon, Vancouver Whitecaps FC; Jakob Glesnes, Philadelphia Union; Kai Wagner, Philadelphia Union
MLS Comeback Player of the Year
Honors an MLS player who has overcome a severe injury and/or adversity, and as a result missed a significant portion of the 2024 season, and shown improved performance to achieve success during the 2025 MLS regular season.
FINALISTS — Lawrence Ennali, Houston Dynamo FC; Nick Hagglund, FC Cincinnati; Richie Laryea, Toronto FC
Goals Drive Progress Impact Award
Honors an MLS player who showed outstanding dedication to charitable efforts and serving the community during the 2025 season.
FINALISTS — Ryan Hollingshead, LAFC; Diego Luna, Real Salt Lake; Brad Stuver; Austin FC
The fact that every single writer picked Messi for MVP shows how dominant his season was even by his own imposible standards. 29 goals in MLS at nearly 39 years old is absurd. What makes your article interesting is showing how unpredictabel the rest of the season was. Everyone thought Galaxy would repeat, Atlanta would dominate after all that spending, but soccer doesnt care about budgets or expectations. The Newcomer category is fascinating becuase Son, Dreyer, and Zinckernagel all had legitimate MVP level seasons for their teams. Son especially changed the entire trajectory of LAFC. Would be interested to see your panel's reactions now versus February when these picks were made.