Pulisic, McKennie, Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd nominated for 2021 US Soccer Awards

The United States men’s and women’s national teams have had an extraordinary year and the US Soccer Federation wants to end 2021 recognising their best players. This week the list of nominees for the 2021 Player of the Year awards was announced, filled with top performers for country and club.

US Soccer will announce the winner of the Women's and Men's Player of the Year and the Young Women's and Young Men's Player of the Year throughout the month of December. The voting for each of the awards starts on Monday, 6 December and closes on 12 December. Fans can vote via ussoccer.com and these votes will count for 15 percent of the overall count. The remainder of the votes will come from the National Team players, coaches, media and other related constituencies.

Nominees for Women's and Men's Player of the Year

Goalkeeper: Alyssa Naeher and Matt Turner

Midfielders: Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle, Kellyn Acosta and Weston McKennie

Forwards: Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Brenden Aaronson and Christian Pulisic

Nominees for Women's and Men's Young Player of the Year

Defenders: Emily Fox and George Bello

Midfielders: Jaelin Howell, Catarina Macario, Gianluca Busio and Yunus Musah

Forwards: Mia Fishel, Trinity Rodman, Jesús Ferreira and Ricardo Pepi

The US Soccer Women's Player of the Year award started in 1985 and midfielder Sharon Romer won in the inaugural edition. Then Mia Hamm made history by winning this award five times and Julia Ertz has won it twice in the past three years. There were no awards in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the last of games played.

The US Soccer Men's Player of the Year has been given since 1984 and Rick Davis won the inaugural edition. Landon Donovan has won four awards and Clint Dempsey has won it on three occasions.