MLS Rookie of the Year Award
Encyclopedia
In the United States
, Major League Soccer
(MLS) has handed out a Rookie of the Year Award since its inception in 1996. MLS, as opposed to other American sports leagues like Major League Baseball
, only designates a player as a rookie
if the player has had no prior professional experience. So, for example, although Taylor Twellman
finished second in MVP voting in 2002, he was ineligible for the Rookie of the Year Award because he had played on the reserve team of 1860 Munich.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
(MLS) has handed out a Rookie of the Year Award since its inception in 1996. MLS, as opposed to other American sports leagues like Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
, only designates a player as a rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
if the player has had no prior professional experience. So, for example, although Taylor Twellman
Taylor Twellman
Taylor Twellman is a retired American soccer player who currently works as a television analyst for the Philadelphia Union and ESPN soccer.-Youth and College:Taylor was raised in St...
finished second in MVP voting in 2002, he was ineligible for the Rookie of the Year Award because he had played on the reserve team of 1860 Munich.
Winners
| Season | Player | Position | Nationality | Team | Draft Pick # | Draft Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in... |
1996 MLS College Draft 1996 MLS College Draft -History:As Major League Soccer prepared for its first season, the league began stocking teams with players. As the teams were being created at the same time, the league adopted a measured approach to building rosters. First, the league allocated four "big name" players to each team. Then on... |
|||
| 1997 | Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny was a charter franchise of Major League Soccer active from 1996 - 2001. They initially played in Tampa Stadium and were immediately successful, winning the first MLS Supporters' Shield behind MLS MVP Carlos Valderrama and high-scoring forward Roy Lassiter, whose 27 goals in... |
1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players who had already graduated from college to the league's ten inaugural teams. The draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996... |
|||
| 1998 | Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the... |
Project-40 | |||
| 1999 | Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Miami Fusion Miami Fusion Miami Fusion F.C. was a professional soccer club located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that participated in Major League Soccer from 1998 to 2001. The club played in Lockhart Stadium, which was a former high school stadium converted into a soccer-specific stadium... |
1999 MLS College Draft 1999 MLS College Draft The 1999 Major League Soccer College Draft.Major League Soccer held its fourth annual college draft on February 6 and 7, 1999 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first round of the draft took place on Saturday with the second and third rounds on Sunday morning. The College Draft was followed by the... |
|||
| 2000 | Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Chicago Fire | 2000 MLS SuperDraft 2000 MLS SuperDraft The 2000 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6:... |
|||
| 2001 | Forward | MetroStars | 2001 MLS SuperDraft 2001 MLS SuperDraft -Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6:-External links:*... |
|||
| 2002 | Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
Columbus Crew Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada... |
2002 MLS SuperDraft 2002 MLS SuperDraft The 2002 Major League Soccer SuperDraft.-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6:... |
|||
| 2003 | Forward | Chicago Fire | 2003 MLS SuperDraft 2003 MLS SuperDraft The 2003 Major League Soccer SuperDraft was held January 17, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri.-Round 1:-Round 2:-Round 3:-Round 4:-Round 5:-Round 6:References=* USA Today MLS Draft List... |
|||
| 2004 | Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada... |
2004 MLS SuperDraft 2004 MLS SuperDraft The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft, and was most notable for the selection of one of the youngest athletes in American sporting history, Freddy Adu, with the first pick.-Player... |
|||
| 2005 | Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
New England Revolution New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada... |
2005 MLS SuperDraft 2005 MLS SuperDraft The 2005 MLS SuperDraft, held in Baltimore, Maryland on January 14, 2005, was the sixth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. Expansion club Real Salt Lake had the first pick as the result of a coin toss . RSL drafted Under-17 midfielder Nikolas Besagno with the first selection... |
|||
| 2006 | Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Chivas USA | 2006 MLS SuperDraft 2006 MLS SuperDraft The 2006 MLS SuperDraft, held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 20, 2006, was the seventh incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection originally belonged to C.D. Chivas USA, but they traded it to the MetroStars for the fifth overall selection and Jason... |
|||
| 2007 2007 Major League Soccer season The 2007 Major League Soccer season was the 12th season in league history. The season began on April 7 and concluded with MLS Cup 2007 on November 18, 2007 at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C..... |
Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
Toronto FC Toronto FC Toronto FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada.... |
2007 MLS SuperDraft 2007 MLS SuperDraft The 2007 MLS SuperDraft, was held in Indianapolis, Indiana on January 12, 2007. It was the eighth annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection belonged to expansion team Toronto FC.The SuperDraft was followed by the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft.... |
|||
| 2008 2008 Major League Soccer season The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season in league history. The season began on March 29 and ended with MLS Cup 2008, on November 23 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.-Changes from the 2007 season:... |
Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second... |
2008 MLS SuperDraft 2008 MLS SuperDraft The 2008 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 18, 2008 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the ninth annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection was made by the Kansas City Wizards, after acquiring the selection from the expansion San Jose Earthquakes... |
|||
| 2009 2009 Major League Soccer season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with Real Salt Lake winning the MLS Cup 2009, on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle, Washington-Changes from the 2008 season:... |
Defender Defender Defender usually refers to a position in association football .Defender or The Defender may also refer to:-Film and television:* The Defender or The Bodyguard from Beijing, a film starring Jet Li... |
Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second... |
2009 MLS SuperDraft 2009 MLS SuperDraft The 2009 MLS SuperDraft took place on January 15, 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the tenth annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The first selection was owned by the expansion Seattle Sounders FC... |
|||
| 2010 2010 Major League Soccer season The 2010 Major League Soccer season was the 98th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 32nd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 15th in MLS history. It began on March 25 at Seattle's Qwest Field with Seattle Sounders FC defeating the expansion... |
Midfielder Midfielder A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role... |
D.C. United D.C. United D.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the... |
D.C. United Academy D.C. United Academy The D.C. United Academy is the youth and development program for Major League Soccer club, D.C. United. The program consists of four levels: the under-23 and under-20 teams, as well as the Academy and Pre-Academy teams... |
|||
| 2011 2011 Major League Soccer season The 2011 Major League Soccer season was the 99th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer, the 33rd with a national first-division league, in the United States and Canada, and the 16th season of Major League Soccer. The season marked the arrival of two new league clubs, Portland Timbers and Vancouver... |
Forward | Sporting Kansas City | 2011 MLS SuperDraft 2011 MLS SuperDraft The 2011 MLS SuperDraft was the twelfth annual SuperDraft presented by Major League Soccer. It was held on January 13, 2011 in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 2011 NSCAA Convention at the Baltimore Convention Center. The 2011 SuperDraft consisted of three rounds with eighteen selections each, for... |
|||
Wins by playing position
| Position | Number of winners |
|---|---|
| Defender | 7 |
| Midfielder | 6 |
| Forward | 3 |
| Goalkeeper | 0 |
Wins by nationality
| Nationality | Number of winners |
|---|---|
| 13 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 | |
| 1 |
Wins by team
| Team | Number of winners |
|---|---|
| Chicago Fire | 2 |
| D.C. United | 2 |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | 2 |
| New England Revolution | 2 |
| Tampa Bay Mutiny | 2 |
| Chivas USA | 1 |
| Columbus Crew | 1 |
| MetroStars | 1 |
| Miami Fusion | 1 |
| Sporting Kansas City | 1 |
| Toronto FC | 1 |