Hany Mukhtar of Nashville SC named 2022 MLS MVP

NASHVILLE — Tucked inside the Valkyrie Premier Club at Geodis Park on Tuesday, Nashville SC forward Hany Mukhtar was named the 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP, adding Major League Soccer's highest individual honor to his Golden Boot award, given for most goals scored this season.

Mukhtar becomes the first player from any Nashville professional sports franchise to win a league MVP since 2003, when Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair was named NFL co-MVP, along with Peyton Manning.

The 27-year-old Mukhtar earned 48.1% of the total vote, topping Austin FC's Sebastian Driussi, who received 16.8%. Mukhtar goes down in history as the first league MVP from Nashville. He joins center back Walker Zimmerman, who won back-to-back defender of the year honors (2020-21), as Nashville players to win MLS Year-End awards.

"For me personally, I feel like Major League Soccer, and me with the MVP, it's such a big honor because they have so many big talents and so many big players in this league," Mukhtar said Tuesday during his award speech. "And for me to win these awards means the world.

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"I started when I was 6, 7 seven years old, playing club soccer," Mukhtar continued. "… I sacrificed my whole life for being a professional soccer player and winning that award is just a dream come true for me."

Mukhtar scored 23 goals and 11 assists this season in MLS competition, first and tied for sixth in the league, respectively. His total goal contributions (34) ranked first in MLS, with the Philadelphia Union's Daniel Gazdag being the only other player to have 30 or more.

U.S. Open Cup games included, Mukhtar scored 26 goals and eight assists in 37 games played, accounting for 45% of Nashville's scoring output in those matches. Over the past two years, no player in MLS has scored more than Mukhtar (39).

It's the second consecutive year the attacker from Berlin was named an MVP finalist. In 2021, Mukhtar received 11.8% of the total vote, after scoring 16 goals 12 assists, finishing second to New England Revolution midfielder Carles Gil (52.1%).

Throughout the season, Mukhtar has made clear his individual objectives for 2022. He made it clear this year's MVP award was not a byproduct of his goal-fest season — it was his bullseye.

"It was a great year last year," he said. "... I started after 10 games to play really good. And this year, I knew that if I can play good from the beginning, I have a great chance to win this award and to do good this year."

Mukhtar was Nashville's first designated-player signing, a classification handed to an MLS club's most talented and highest-paid players, in August 2019. In his first year with Nashville in 2020, Mukhtar said his transition from playing for IF Brondby in Denmark to the U.S. was difficult. He scored four goals and four assists in 15 games played during the truncated season.

"I signed for 2020 before COVID-19. It was very, very difficult for everyone and also for me," Mukhtar said. "My family is from Germany, from Berlin, and they couldn't visit me. No one, my friends couldn't visit me and the city of Nashville, where the people here became my friends, became part of my life and that's why the Nashville SC community — they're the real MVP.

"... And I'm looking very forward to making history here and also to winning silverware for the city."

Mukhtar and Zimmerman signed designated player contracts in May, extending the club's polar anchors through the 2025 MLS season.

For stories about Nashville SC or Soccer in Tennessee, contact Drake Hills at DHills@gannett.com. Follow Drake on Twitter at @LiveLifeDrake. Connect with Drake on Instagram at @drakehillssoccer and on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC's Hany Mukhtar wins 2022 Landon Donovan MLS MVP award