Nashville Soccer Club’s ‘Man in Black’ Jersey Is Second Most Sold Kit in 2023

MAR-GRA-2023-252 Top selling jerseys - 1920

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 25, 2023) – Nashville Soccer Club in conjunction with Major League Soccer announced today that its Johnny Cash inspired jersey ‘Man in Black’ is the second most sold MLS jersey in 2023. Nashville SC Designated Players Hany Mukhtar and Walker Zimmerman are second and third top-selling adidas jerseys in the league on MLSstore.com.

The ‘Man in Black’ kit, which was unveiled on Feb. 17, was designed in collaboration with the estate of Johnny Cash, Sandbox Succession, and Wasserman Music. The inspiration came as The Backline Supporters Collective, the club’s fans, unveiled their first ever MLS TIFO, featuring the Johnny Cash alongside the Nashville SC logo prior to Nashville SC’s inaugural MLS match against Atlanta United FC on Feb. 29, 2020.

The all-black ensemble is embellished by dark graphite and iron metallic accents including a jocktag of Johnny Cash’s iconic photo at Folsom Prison, Cash’s autograph on the back-of-the-neck, the Nashville SC crest, and an iron metallic Renasant Bank logo as well as an adidas logo. The left sleeve celebrates the Apple and MLS partnership by featuring the Apple TV and MLS logos, and the right sleeve features the Hyundai logo. Fans can purchase their ‘Man in Black’ jersey here.

Reigning 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar jumped from the 17th highest selling jersey in MLS last year to second this season after a sensational campaign that saw the German earn MVP honors and the Golden Boot in a 23 goal and 11 assist season in 2022.

Mukhtar has recorded a league-high 48 goal contributions of Nashville’s 71 goals (70.4%) since the start of last season. In 2023, the German attacker is tied with Atlanta United FC’s Thiago Almada (six goals, eight assists) for the league lead in goal contributions with 14, tallying eight goals and recording six assists.

Walker Zimmerman is coming off yet another sensational campaign both for Club and Country where the defender was selected to the MLS Best XI in 2022 for the fourth consecutive year, becoming the fifth player in MLS history to accomplish that feat.

Zimmerman represented the United States in the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar, anchoring the Stars and Stripes backline to a shutout performance against England to advance to the Round of 16. The defender appeared in all four matches for the United States in its World Cup run.

Last season, Zimmerman finished as the 10th highest selling jersey in MLS, leaping seven spots this season to third. To begin 2023, Zimmerman anchored Nashville SC’s backline to five shutouts in the club’s first 10 matches of the season, while allowing the fewest goals in MLS this season. Zimmerman made waves on Opening Day, scoring the first goal of Nashville’s 2023 campaign against New York City FC at GEODIS Park on Feb. 25.

A full breakdown of the Top 5 2023 Top-Selling MLS Club Jerseys are listed below:

1.
Seattle Sounders
2.
NASHVILLE SC
3.
Charlotte FC
4.
Philadelphia Union
5.
Austin FC

A full breakdown of the Top 25 2023 Top-Selling MLS Player Jerseys are listed below:

1.
Carlos Vela
LAFC
2.
HANY MUKHTAR
NASHVILLE SC
3.
WALKER ZIMMERMAN
NASHVILLE SC
4.
Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández
LA Galaxy
5.
Jordan Morris
Seattle Sounders FC
6.
Josef Martinez
Inter Miami CF
7.
Thiago Almada
Atlanta United
8.
Dániel Gazdag
Philadelphia Union
9.
Andre Blake
Philadelphia Union
10.
Riqui Puig
LA Galaxy
11.
Ben Bender
Charlotte FC
12.
Christian Roldan
Seattle Sounders FC
13.
Juan "Cucho" Hernández
Columbus Crew
14.
Sebastián Driussi

Austin FC

15.
Facundo Torres
Orlando City SC
16.
Denis Bouanga
LAFC
17.
Nicolás Lodeiro
Seattle Sounders FC
18.
Julián Carranza
Philadelphia Union
19.
Lucas Zelarayán
Columbus Crew
20.
Mateusz Klich
D.C. United
21.
Rául Ruidíaz
Seattle Sounders FC
22.
Johnny Russell
Sporting Kansas City
23.
João Klauss
St. Louis CITY SC
24.
Jakob Glesnes
Philadelphia Union
25.
João Paulo
Seattle Sounders FC