Thiago Almada, Giorgos Giakoumakis Named to 2023 MLS Best XI Presented by Continental Tire

November 28, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Atlanta United FC News Release

ATLANTA (Nov. 28, 2023) -Major League Soccer today announced that Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis were named to the 2023 MLS Best XI presented by Continental Tire, which recognizes the league’s top players at each position as determined by members of the media, MLS players and MLS club technical staffs.

Among the group of elite performers from the 2023 MLS regular season are eight players who were selected for the first time. The MLS Best XI presented by Continental Tire represents eight nations and seven clubs, all of which qualified for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The duo joins Miguel Almirón (2017, 2018), Josef Martínez (2017, 2018, 2019) and Miles Robinson (2019, 2021) as Atlanta players to make an MLS Best XI.

2023 MLS Best XI presented by Continental Tire

Goalkeeper: Roman Bürki (St. Louis CITY SC)

Defenders: Matt Miazga (FC Cincinnati), Tim Parker (St. Louis CITY SC), Walker Zimmerman (Nashville SC)

Midfielders: Luciano ‘Lucho’ Acosta (FC Cincinnati), Thiago Almada (Atlanta United), Héctor Herrera (Houston Dynamo FC), Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC)

Forwards: Dénis Bouanga (LAFC), Giorgos Giakoumakis (Atlanta United), Juan ‘Cucho’ Hernández (Columbus Crew)

Almada makes his first appearance on the MLS Best XI after being named the 2023 MLS Young Player of the Year. In just his second MLS season, Almada produced a league-leading 19 assists and, with 11 goals, provided the second-most goal contributions with 30 during the 2023 regular season. His 19 assists set a new club single-season record, which was previously held by Almirón (2017, 2018) and Julian Gressel (2018) with 14 assists each. Almada is also the youngest player in MLS history to record double-digit goals and assists in a single season at 22 years and 150 days old, surpassing Ronald Cerritos (22 years and 246 days) during the 1997 regular season. Since arriving in Atlanta at the beginning of 2022, the World Cup winner has the second-most assists (31) and fourth-most goal contributions (48) of any MLS player over that stretch.

Giakoumakis earns his first MLS Best XI honors in his debut season. The 2023 MLS Newcomer of the Year scored 17 goals and provided three assists in 27 regular-season games, finishing in a tie for second in the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi race. The Greek international was named to the 2023 MLS All-Star team and had the league’s best goals-per-90-minutes mark (0.85) with a…