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Landon Donovan MVP Award
Annual award for Major League Soccer players
Annual award for Major League Soccer players
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Landon Donovan MVP Award |
| image | Lionel Messi NE Revolution Inter Miami 7.9.25-178.jpg |
| caption | Lionel Messi is the current award holder |
| date | |
| presenter | MLS |
| holder | ARG Lionel Messi |
| (2nd award) | |
| most_awards | USA Preki |
| ARG Lionel Messi | |
| (2 awards each) |
(2nd award) ARG Lionel Messi (2 awards each) 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 first player to ever win twice, in 1997 and 2003, while Lionel Messi is the only player to ever win twice consecutively, in 2024 and 2025.
On January 15, 2015, MLS renamed its MVP award in honor of Landon Donovan, who won the award in 2009 and retired as the all-time leader in goals and assists in the league's history.
Winners
| Season | Player | Club | Other Finalists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | COL Carlos Valderrama | Tampa Bay Mutiny | Roy Lassiter, Preki |
| 1997 | USA Preki | Kansas City Wizards | Marco Etcheverry, Carlos Valderrama |
| 1998 | BOL Marco Etcheverry | D.C. United | Cobi Jones, Peter Nowak |
| 1999 | USA Jason Kreis | Dallas Burn | Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno |
| 2000 | USA Tony Meola | Kansas City Wizards | Mamadou Diallo, Clint Mathis |
| 2001 | HON Álex Pineda Chacón | Miami Fusion | Jeff Agoos, Diego Serna |
| 2002 | GUA Carlos Ruíz | Los Angeles Galaxy | Mark Chung, Taylor Twellman |
| 2003 | USA Preki (2) | Kansas City Wizards | Ante Razov, John Spencer |
| 2004 | HON Amado Guevara | MetroStars | Joe Cannon, Jaime Moreno |
| 2005 | USA Taylor Twellman | New England Revolution | Dwayne De Rosario, Jaime Moreno |
| 2006 | ARG Christian Gómez | D.C. United | Jeff Cunningham, Dwayne De Rosario |
| 2007 | BRA Luciano Emílio | D.C. United | Juan Pablo Ángel, Cuauhtémoc Blanco |
| 2008 | ARG Guillermo Barros Schelotto | Columbus Crew | Landon Donovan, Cuauhtémoc Blanco |
| 2009 | USA Landon Donovan | Los Angeles Galaxy | Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Cunningham |
| 2010 | COL David Ferreira | FC Dallas | Edson Buddle, Chris Wondolowski |
| 2011 | CAN Dwayne De Rosario | D.C. United | Brad Davis, Brek Shea |
| 2012 | USA Chris Wondolowski | San Jose Earthquakes | Thierry Henry, Graham Zusi |
| 2013 | USA Mike Magee | Chicago Fire | Robbie Keane, Marco Di Vaio |
| 2014 | IRE Robbie Keane | Los Angeles Galaxy | Lee Nguyen, Obafemi Martins |
| 2015 | ITA Sebastian Giovinco | Toronto FC | Kei Kamara, Benny Feilhaber |
| 2016 | ESP David Villa | New York City FC | Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan |
| 2017 | ARG Diego Valeri | Portland Timbers | David Villa, Nemanja Nikolić |
| 2018 | VEN Josef Martínez | Atlanta United FC | Miguel Almirón, Zlatan Ibrahimović |
| 2019 | MEX Carlos Vela | Los Angeles FC | Zlatan Ibrahimović, Josef Martínez |
| 2020 | ESP Alejandro Pozuelo | Toronto FC | Andre Blake, Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris, Diego Rossi |
| 2021 | ESP Carles Gil | New England Revolution | Hany Mukhtar, João Paulo, Dániel Sallói, Valentín Castellanos |
| 2022 | GER Hany Mukhtar | Nashville SC | Sebastián Driussi, Andre Blake |
| 2023 | ARG Luciano Acosta | FC Cincinnati | Thiago Almada, Denis Bouanga |
| 2024 | ARG Lionel Messi | Inter Miami CF | Cucho Hernández, Evander |
| 2025 | ARG Lionel Messi (2) | Inter Miami CF | Anders Dreyer, Denis Bouanga, Evander, Sam Surridge |
Wins by team
| Club | Wins |
|---|---|
| D.C. United | 4 |
| Kansas City Wizards/Sporting KC | 3 |
| LA Galaxy | 3 |
| Dallas Burn/FC Dallas | 2 |
| Inter Miami CF | 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 |
|---|---|
| 8 | |
| 6 | |
| 3 | |
| 2 | |
| 2 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 |
References
References
- (January 16, 2015). "Major League Soccer names Most Valuable Player award after Landon Donovan". MLSsoccer.com.
- (January 15, 2015). "Major League Soccer renames MVP award to honor Landon Donovan".
- (9 December 2025). "Inter Miami's Lionel Messi repeats as Landon Donovan MLS MVP". [[Major League Soccer]].
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