Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar named 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP

MLSsoccer staff

Add another trophy to Hany Mukhtar’s incredible season: Nashville SC’s star attacker has been named the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player, following his MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi honor from earlier this year.

Mukhtar led the league with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists) in 2022, tied for the fifth-most in a single MLS season. That amounts to an incredible 65.4% of Nashville’s goals in 2022, powering a third straight Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearance since the club’s expansion journey began in 2020.

Signed as Nashville’s first-ever DP in August 2019, the former Brøndby (Denmark) man recorded 21 goals and seven assists in his final 22 games of the Coyotes’ season. That culminated in a league-high 11 goals since the start of August, becoming just the fourth player in MLS history to total at least 12 goal contributions (eight goals, four assists) in a single calendar month.

Mukhtar, 27, is the first German-born player and the first in Nashville SC history to win MVP honors. He’s also the first player to lead the league in goal contributions in consecutive seasons since Sebastian Giovinco from 2015-16 with Toronto FC.

Nashville is the fourth expansion club to have a player earn the honor within their first three MLS seasons, along with LAFC (Carlos Vela in 2019), Atlanta United FC (Josef Martínez in 2018) and New York City FC (David Villa in 2016).

The Landon Donovan MLS MVP award has been presented since 1996 to the individual determined by a poll of players, club technical staff and media to be the most valuable to his club.

Below is a breakdown of the voting results for 2022, with Mukhtar finishing ahead of Austin FC attacker Sebastián Driussi and Philadelphia Union goalkeeper Andre Blake to take home the award.

Voting Results