Let the campaigning begin.
MLS announced on Thursday that fan voting for the 2012 AT&T MLS All-Star Game will launch online and via text on Friday, June 8 beginning at noon ET.
The league on Thursday revealed the 114 names of players — six per club — who were nominated for the fan ballot by a panel of media members.
Through Monday, July 2 fans will be able to vote online at MLSsoccer.com and also by texting a player's last name only to 22442. Voting will also be enabled via Twitter on June 21-22 with details to follow.
The 11 players with the highest combined online, text and Twitter fan votes will become the First XI All-Stars and will be unveiled on Sunday, July 8, at halftime of the Chicago Fire vs. LA Galaxy match. One of those 11 spots is automatically claimed by the player that earns the most text votes.
The gameday roster to face Chelsea on July 25 (8:30 pm ET, ESPN2, TeleFutura, TSN and RDS) will be selected by All-Star manager Peter Nowak from the First XI as voted by fans, two Commissioner's picks and the pool of players who received votes from at two fellow players.
Nowak's squad list will be unveiled on Sunday, July 15, at halftime of the New York Red Bulls vs. Seattle Sounders match.
