National Soccer Hall of Fame Announces Final Ballots for Election to 2025 Class

September 5, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Dallas News Release

FRISCO, Texas – The National Soccer Hall of Fame at Toyota Stadium today released the names of the finalists for election to the Class of 2025, including 20 on the Player ballot and 10 each on the Veteran and Builder ballots.

The Hall of Fame Voting Committees will meet over the next several weeks and then vote to select a maximum of six new members; as many as three Players and two Veterans can be selected, along with one Builder.

The 2025 Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for May 3 in Frisco.

Player Ballot Finalists

Chris Ahrens

Yael Averbuch

Kyle Beckerman

Matt Besler

Lori Chalupny

Stephanie Lopez Cox

Dwayne DeRosario

Maurice Edu

Keith Johnson

Jermaine Jones

Shalrie Joseph

Robbie Keane

Carli Lloyd

Chad Marshall

Oguchi Onyewu

Cat Reddick Whitehill

Nick Rimando

Amy Rodriguez

Carlos Ruiz

Chris Wondolowski

Five candidates – Besler, Lopez Cox, Lloyd, Rodriguez and Wondolowski – were selected to the Final Ballot in their first year of eligibility. In all, 13 of the 20 Player finalists return from 2024. Averbuch and Marshall were selected as finalists after not being chosen last year.

Ahrens, Chalupny and Reddick Whitehill are in their final year of eligibility in the Player category; if they are not elected, they will move to the Veteran Eligibility List next year.

Juan Cervantes, Aurelien Collin, David Ferreira, Giovanni Garcia, Oscar Gil, Oscar Reyes, Axel Sjoberg and Jorge Villafaña did not receive any votes and will be removed from the Player Eligibility List via the sunset rule. They will regain eligibility on the Veteran list after 10 full years of retirement.

Veteran Ballot Finalists

Chris Armas

Kevin Crow

Francis Farberoff

Lorrie Fair

Mary Harvey

Lori Henry

Clint Mathis

Tony Sanneh

Tatu

Aly Wagner

Builder Ballot Finalists

Mark Abbott

Clive Charles

William Cox

Joe Cummings

Richard Groff

Burton Haimes

Clark Hunt

Tim Leiweke

Lothar Osiander

Kari Seitz

Builders are listed in three categories: referees, coaches and contributors. Beginning with the 2022 election, Builder selections have been limited each year to a rotation of the three categories – or to a selection from the full pool of candidates. The 2025 Builder election is open to candidates from all three categories.

The two Players, one Veteran and one Builder who receive the most votes and are named on more than 50% of the ballots are automatically elected to the Hall of Fame. A third Player and a second Veteran may be elected if they are named to at least 75% of the…