Year-end award nominations have arrived. Last week, the league released its first batch of nominations for the MLS End-of-Year Awards. The list includes seven players and 10 total nominations for Atlanta United.
Leading the list for the 5-Stripes is Thiago Almada. The midfielder from Argentina received three nominations, the most out of any Atlanta player, including 2022 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player.
The 21-year-old is also nominated for Young Player of the Year. Almada was recently named no. 2 on the 22 Under 22 List presented by BODYARMOR. Atlanta United Homegrown defender and 17-year-old Caleb Wiley is also nominated in the young player category.
Almada joined Atlanta United in February as a Designated Player signing. In his first career season in MLS, he currently leads Atlanta United in assists (11) and is third on the team in goals scored (6). He joins Juanjo Purata, who signed with the club on loan from Tigres UNAL and also has six goals on the season, as nominees for Newcomer of the Year.
Voting runs September 30-October 10. Current players, club technical staffs and media members will vote to determine the winners. Finalists will be announced October 9. The league will announce the winners gradually October 9-November 4.
Fans will have the opportunity to vote on MLSsoccer.com for AT&T MLS Goal of the Year & MLS Save of the Year presented by Allstate from October 12-14.
A full list of Atlanta's nominations is below:
2022 MLS Year-End Award Nominations for Atlanta United
- Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player - Thiago Almada
- Comeback Player of the Year - Santiago Sosa
- Newcomer of the Year - Thiago Almada, Juanjo Purata
- Defender of the Year - Miles Robinson
- Young Player of the Year - Thiago Almada, Caleb Wiley
- Allstate MLS Goalkeeper of the Year - Brad Guzan
- MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year - Andrew Gutman
- Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year - Gonzalo Pineda
