Can a player who could end up playing just 19 games out of 34 be considered for MVP of a league? In the case of Lionel Messi, that seems very possible. Messi has played 17 games in MLS this season, scoring 17 goals and providing 15 assists—a goal per game—making him a strong candidate for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award.
According to Favian Renkel of SI Soccer, the new criteria for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP award require that nominees must have played at least 1,000 minutes during the MLS regular season. In Messi’s case, he has played 1,424 minutes for Inter Miami.
Since his return from injury suffered in the Copa America final, Messi has scored 5 goals in 5 games, playing 90 minutes in 4 of those matches.
Criteria for Every MLS Award
According to Favian Renkel, to win MLS Defender of the Year, MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, MLS Young Player of the Year, MLS Newcomer of the Year, and MLS Best XI, nominees need to have played at least 500 minutes during the 2024 MLS regular season.
For the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year award, nominees need to be active head coaches or interim head coaches who have coached at least five MLS regular-season games.
Only four Argentines have ever won the MVP award since MLS began in 1996: Christian Gómez (2006), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (2008), Diego Valeri (2017), and Luciano Acosta (2023).
D.C. United is the team with the most MVP winners, having four. Tony Meola is the only goalkeeper to have ever won the award, doing so in 2000.