{"id":26682,"date":"2025-10-30T15:41:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/26682\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T15:41:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T15:41:11","slug":"orlando-citys-alex-freeman-named-2025-mls-young-player-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/26682\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando City’s Alex Freeman named 2025 MLS Young Player of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Freeman<\/a> has been named the 2025 MLS Young Player of the Year, rewarding the right back’s breakout season with Orlando City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old homegrown defender tallied a career-best nine goal contributions (6g\/3a) in 29 games, going from an MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> prospect to an MLS All-Star selection. His six goals were tied for second among MLS defenders this season, and his 42 key passes were the fourth-most.<\/p>\n

Freeman rode his sensational season to a consistent USMNT<\/a> role, earning 11 caps since debuting ahead of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup<\/a>. He’s now pursuing a 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/a> roster spot, continuing his rapid rise for club and country.<\/p>\n

Freeman becomes the first Orlando player to win the award in its current iteration and the second in club history to earn the honor, joining Cyle Larin, who was named MLS Rookie of the Year in 2015.<\/p>\n

Freeman is the fourth American to earn the award in its current iteration and the second to have played in both MLS NEXT Pro and in MLS NEXT<\/a>, joining Real Salt Lake<\/a>‘s Diego Luna<\/a> (2024).<\/p>\n

The Young Player of the Year award honors the top player in the league aged 22 and under. Players born on or after Jan. 1, 2003, were eligible for selection.<\/p>\n

The award is voted on by MLS club technical staff, media and current MLS players. Freeman bested fellow finalists Obed Vargas<\/a> (Seattle Sounders FC<\/a>) and Luna (RSL).<\/p>\n

\n MLS Young Player of the Year\/Rookie of the Year winners<\/p>\n

\n Young Player of the Year<\/p>\n

2025: Alex Freeman \u2013 Orlando City
\n2024: Diego Luna \u2013 Real Salt Lake
\n2023: Thiago Almada \u2013 Atlanta United
\n2022: Jes\u00fas Ferreira \u2013 FC Dallas
\n2021: Ricardo Pepi \u2013 FC Dallas
\n2020: Diego Rossi \u2013 Los Angeles Football Club<\/p>\n

\n Rookie of the Year<\/p>\n

2019: Andre Shinyashiki \u2013 Colorado Rapids
\n2018: Corey Baird \u2013 Real Salt Lake
\n2017: Julian Gressel \u2013 Atlanta United
\n2016: Jordan Morris \u2013 Seattle Sounders FC
\n2015: Cyle Larin \u2013 Orlando City SC
\n2014: Tesho Akindele \u2013 FC Dallas
\n2013: Dillon Powers \u2013 Colorado Rapids
\n2012: Austin Berry \u2013 Chicago Fire FC
\n2011: C.J. Sapong \u2013 Sporting Kansas City
\n2010: Andy Najar \u2013 D.C. United
\n2009: Omar Gonzalez \u2013 LA Galaxy
\n2008: Sean Franklin \u2013 LA Galaxy
\n2007: Maurice Edu \u2013 Toronto FC
\n2006: Jonathan Bornstein \u2013 Chivas USA
\n2005: Michael Parkhurst \u2013 New England Revolution
\n2004: Clint Dempsey \u2013 New England Revolution
\n2003: Damani Ralph \u2013 Chicago Fire FC
\n2002: Kyle Martino \u2013 Columbus Crew
\n2001: Rodrigo Faria \u2013 MetroStars
\n2000: Carlos Bocanegra \u2013 Chicago Fire FC
\n1999: Jay Heaps \u2013 Miami Fusion
\n1998: Ben Olsen \u2013 D.C. United
\n1997: Mike Duhaney \u2013 Tampa Bay Mutiny
\n1996: Steve Ralston \u2013 Tampa Bay Mutiny<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Freeman has been named the 2025 MLS Young Player of the Year, rewarding the right back’s breakout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7699,10369,139,4788,141,140,4959,20051],"class_list":["post-26682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-alexander-freeman","tag-mls-league-awards","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city-sc","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sendtonews","tag-young-player-of-the-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}