October 25, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) News Release
NEW YORK – Major League Soccer today announced Atlanta United midfielder Thiago Almada as the 2022 MLS Newcomer of the Year. The award recognizes the year’s most impactful new MLS player who has prior professional experience.
Almada joined Atlanta United as a Designated Player on February 9, 2022, and made his MLS debut on March 13 against Charlotte FC. He opened his MLS account with a goal in his second appearance of the season, a 3-3 draw vs. CF Montréal on March 19 in which he helped Atlanta United erase a two-goal deficit in the 85th minute and earn a point. Almada led the club with 12 assists this season, a figure that tied for the seventh most in the league, and added six goals. He was one of only six players in MLS to record at least 12 assists and five goals during the season. Almada was selected to the MLS Team of the Week on five occasions (Weeks 11, 13, 25, 30, and 31).
Almada becomes the second Atlanta United player to earn this award after Paraguayan international Miguel Almirón was awarded in 2017 during the club’s inaugural MLS season. Almada emerged victorious over fellow finalists and standout newcomers Juan ‘Cucho’ Hernández (Columbus Crew) and Djordje Petrović (New England Revolution).
Building on his success for Atlanta, Almada joined former Atlanta United midfielder Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martinez as just the second player from Major League Soccer to earn a call-up with the Argentina National Team. The Argentinian native earned his first national team call-up in a set of friendly matches against Honduras (Sept. 23) and Jamaica (Sept. 27).
The Newcomer of the Year award was voted on by MLS club technical staff, media, and current MLS players. Below is a breakdown of the voting results.
Newcomer of the Year
Name Player Vote Club Vote Media Vote Average Vote
Almada, Thiago (ATL) 13.50% 19.10% 10.60% 14.40%
Hernández, Juan ‘Cucho’ (CLB) 12.40% 6.40% 21.10.% 13.30%
Petrović, Djordje (NE) 3.60% 8.50% 21.10% 11.07%
A full list of previous MLS Newcomer of the Year award winners can be found below:
MLS Newcomer of the Year Winners
Season Player Club
2022 Thiago Almada Atlanta United
2021 Cristian ‘Chicho’ Arango Los Angeles Football Club
2020 Lucas Zelarayán Columbus Crew SC
2019 Carles Gil New England Revolution
2018 Zlatan Ibrahimović LA…
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