MLS Defender of the Year Award

The Major League Soccer Defender of the Year Award is an annual award handed out to the top defender in Major League Soccer annually since the league's inception in 1996. ^[1] The award is decided based on votes from MLS players, MLS coaches and executives and media members. ^[2]

John Doyle won the inaugural award with the San Jose Clash for the 1996 MLS season.

Winners

With three wins, Chad Marshall has won the most MLS Defender of the Year Awards.

US men's national team player Carlos Bocanegra is a two-time winner of the award.

Ike Opara won the award with both Sporting Kansas City and Minnesota United FC.

Walker Zimmerman won the award back-to-back with Nashville SC

Season	Winner	Team	Finalists
1996	John Doyle	San Jose Clash
1997	Eddie Pope	D.C. United
1998	Luboš Kubík	Chicago Fire
1999	Robin Fraser	Los Angeles Galaxy
2000	Peter Vermes	Kansas City Wizards
2001	Jeff Agoos	San Jose Earthquakes
2002	Carlos Bocanegra	Chicago Fire
2003	Carlos Bocanegra (2)	Chicago Fire
2004 [3]	Robin Fraser (2)	Columbus Crew	Jimmy Conrad Eddie Pope
2005 [4]	Jimmy Conrad	Kansas City Wizards	Danny Califf Tyrone Marshall
2006 [5]	Bobby Boswell	D.C. United	Jimmy Conrad Jose Burciaga
2007	Michael Parkhurst	New England Revolution
2008 [6]	Chad Marshall	Columbus Crew	Jimmy Conrad Bakary Soumare
2009	Chad Marshall (2)	Columbus Crew
2010 [7]	Jámison Olave	Real Salt Lake	Omar Gonzalez Nat Borchers
2011	Omar Gonzalez	Los Angeles Galaxy	Jámison Olave Nat Borchers Carlos Valdés
2012	Matt Besler	Sporting Kansas City	Víctor Bernárdez Aurélien Collin Jay DeMerit
2013	José Gonçalves	New England Revolution	Matt Besler Omar Gonzalez Jámison Olave
2014	Chad Marshall (3)	Seattle Sounders FC	Bobby Boswell Omar Gonzalez Michael Parkhurst
2015	Laurent Ciman [1]	Montreal Impact	Kendall Waston Matt Hedges Matt Miazga
2016	Matt Hedges [2]	FC Dallas	Jelle Van Damme Axel Sjöberg Walker Zimmerman Steve Birnbaum
2017	Ike Opara [8]	Sporting Kansas City	Justin Morrow Kendall Waston Leandro González Pírez Matt Besler
2018	Aaron Long [9]	New York Red Bulls	Chad Marshall Michael Parkhurst Leandro González Pírez Kemar Lawrence
2019	Ike Opara [10] (2)	Minnesota United FC	Walker Zimmerman Miles Robinson Maxime Chanot Eddie Segura Aaron Long
2020	Walker Zimmerman [11]	Nashville SC	Mark McKenzie Jonathan Mensah Anton Tinnerholm Chris Mavinga Richie Laryea
2021	Walker Zimmerman [12] (2)	Nashville SC	Yeimar Gómez Andrade Miles Robinson Andreu Fontàs DeJuan Jones
2022	Jakob Glesnes [13]	Philadelphia Union	Kai Wagner Alexander Callens
2023	Matt Miazga [14]	FC Cincinnati	Tim Parker Yeimar Gómez Andrade
2024	Steven Moreira [15]	Columbus Crew	Jordi Alba Jackson Ragen
2025	Tristan Blackmon [16]	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	Kai Wagner Jakob Glesnes

Wins by club

Club	Wins
Columbus Crew	4
Kansas City Wizards/Sporting KC	4
Chicago Fire	3
D.C. United	2
LA Galaxy	2
Nashville SC	2
New England Revolution	2
San Jose Clash/Earthquakes	2
FC Cincinnati	1
FC Dallas	1
Minnesota United FC	1
Montréal Impact/CF Montréal	1
New York Red Bulls	1
Philadelphia Union	1
Real Salt Lake	1
Seattle Sounders FC	1
FC Cincinnati	1
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	1

Wins by nationality

Nationality	Wins
United States	25
Belgium	1
Cape Verde	1
Colombia	1
Czech Republic	1
Norway	1
Portugal	1

References

1. Montreal Impact defender Laurent Ciman named 2015 MLS Defender of the Year Archived August 12, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , mlssoccer.com
2. "The FC Dallas center back beat out the Galaxy’s Jelle Van Damme for the award", Goal.com, November 11, 2016.
3. "Crew defender Robin Fraser selected as one of three finalists for MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer.
4. "Major League Soccer announces winners of four year-end awards". Major League Soccer.
5. "2006 MLS year-end awards finalists announced". Major League Soccer.
6. "Conrad, Lopez finalists for year-end awards | MLSSoccer.com". mlssoccer.
7. "MLS names finalists for end-of-season awards". Major League Soccer.
8. "Sporting Kansas City's Ike Opara wins 2017 MLS Defender of the Year award". Major League Soccer. November 9, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2017.
9. Bogert, Tom (November 7, 2018). "New York Red Bulls' Aaron Long wins 2018 MLS Defender of the Year award". Major League Soccer. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
10. "Minnesota United FC's Ike Opara named MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
11. "Nashville SC's Walker Zimmerman named 2020 MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
12. "Nashville SC's Walker Zimmerman Named MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
13. "Philadelphia Union's Jakob Glesnes named 2022 MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. October 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
14. "FC Cincinnati's Matt Miazga named 2023 MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. November 13, 2023. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
15. "Columbus Crew's Steven Moreira named 2024 MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. November 13, 2024. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
16. "Vancouver Whitecaps FC's Tristan Blackmon named 2025 MLS Defender of the Year". Major League Soccer. October 28, 2025. Retrieved October 29, 2025.