December 11 – Global footballing megastar Lionel Messi has, unsurprisingly, been named the 2025 Landon Donovan Major League Soccer MVP following another goal-laden campaign.
The Argentine maestro is now the first player in league history to win the award in back-to-back seasons, joining Preki as the only two-time winner. His stats didn’t hurt his cause after posting 29 goals and 19 assists and leading the league in both categories again.
He earned more than 70 percent of the vote from media, players, and club staff for the prestigious honour. In his slipstream was a host of other foreign imports. Anders Dreyer from San Diego FC finished a distant second with just over 11 percent. Then came Denis Bouanga, Evander, and Sam Surridge. Not a single American in the mix.
Messi’s reaction was the usual blend of gratitude and understatement. He credited his teammates for his Golden Boot as his 48-goal contributions were the second-highest in MLS history, just one shy of former LAFC striker Carlos Vela’s record.
He’s now the only player the league has ever seen with multiple seasons of 36-plus goal contributions. And he set a new mark with ten multi-goal games in a single year, proving that, like a fine wine, Messi is aging superbly.
It also puts a spotlight on something MLS fans have been wondering for a while: will an American ever win this award again? The last one to do it was the Chicago Fire’s Mike Magee in 2013. Since then, it’s been a steady run of foreign stars.
The league is bigger, better, and far more global than it used to be, which is a massive positive. But it also means the MVP conversation rarely includes homegrown players.
Somewhere in an academy program, there’s probably a kid dreaming of breaking that pattern. For now, though, the league’s biggest prize keeps ending up in the hands of the world’s biggest imports, and who would bet against Messi making it a hat trick when MLS returns next season?