NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Sept. 1, 2022) – Nashville Soccer Club in conjunction with Major League Soccer announced today that MVP frontrunner Hany Mukhtar was voted the MLS Player of the Week for the 28th Week of the 2022 MLS season.
Mukhtar scored his first hat trick of the season in Nashville’s 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night, the first ever at GEODIS Park (Watch Highlights from His Performance Here). His hat trick was the second of his career after previously producing one on July 17, 2021, against Chicago Fire FC. Mukhtar brought his goal tally in 2022 to 19, which set a new club single-season record, eclipsing the previous mark of 16 that he set in 2021. The German attacker also made history by becoming the fourth player in MLS history to produce at least 12 goal contributions (seven goals, five assists) in a calendar month. He has scored multiple goals in a match five times this season, which is more than any other MLS player.
Mukhtar’s 35 goals since the start of 2021 are the most in MLS over that span. He leads all players in goal contributions this season with 30 (19 goals, 11 assists), which makes him the only player in MLS in 2022 with double-digit goals and assists, and just the 15th ever player in the history of the league to accomplish double digits combined goals and assists in consecutive seasons. The midfielder has at least one goal contribution in 11 of his last 12 matches and has had multiple goal contributions in five of those games.
Mukhtar is the second player to win MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire multiple times in 2022, joining the Philadelphia Union’s Julián Carranza (Weeks 19 and 26). His five Player of the Week awards since the start of 2020 are the most in MLS and also rank as the fourth-most among active MLS players, behind LAFC’s Carlos Vela (eight), Atlanta United FC’s Josef Martínez (seven), and the Colorado Rapids’ Gyazi Zardes (six). No other player has won the award multiple times in both the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The German was previously selected in Week 14, twice in 2021 (Week 13 & Week 23) and once in Week 18 in 2020
Mukhtar has now been involved in over half of Nashville SC’s regular season goals in club history (66 of 124) and is the all-time leader in club history in goals (39) and assists (27). The German will aim to improve these numbers as Nashville SC looks to win four-consecutive games for the first time in club history when it hosts Austin FC at GEODIS Park at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, Sept. 3. Tickets for the match remain available at www.NashvilleSC.com/Tickets.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
