FC Cincinnati have nine individuals nominated for seven awards as part of the 2024 MLS Year-End Awards, highlighting the accomplishments of the league’s top players on and off the field as well as the achievements of head coaches and referees during the 2024 MLS regular season.
The voting window for the annual postseason awards opened Monday at 12 p.m. ET and will conclude on Monday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. ET. Finalists for each award will be announced on Thursday, Oct. 24.
Winners for the awards are voted on by members of the media, club technical staff, and active MLS players, with each group accounting for 33.3% of the total vote. Club technical staff and players may not vote for their own team’s nominees.
FC Cincinnati’s 2024 MLS Year-End Award nominees are as follows:
Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player: Luciano Acosta, Luca Orellano
Acosta seeks to become the first player in MLS history to win the Most Valuable Player award in consecutive seasons and just the second to win the award twice (Preki: 1997, 2003). Acosta’s 33 goal contributions are tied for the MLS-lead and are even more than his MVP-winning campaign a season ago. He leads MLS in assists (19) and chances created (106). He captained the MLS All-Star Team for the second straight season back in July.
Orellano has emerged on the scene as a force in his first season with FC Cincinnati. The young Argentine has made an impact with 10 goals and seven assists and has twice won the MLS Player of the Matchday award this season. He was named an MLS All-Star in July and has twice scored world-class goals from midfield or beyond to win MLS Goal of the Matchday.
Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year: Pat Noonan
Noonan seeks to become the fifth head coach to win the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year award for a second time. The reigning Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year, Noonan has navigated countless challenges to lead the Orange and Blue on a valiant defense of their 2023 Supporters' Shield triumph. FC Cincinnati saw two starting center backs, and four players total, suffer season-ending injuries in under two months. This included reigning Defender of the Year Matt Miazga, without whom the Cincinnati defense faced notable challenges.
During all of this, Noonan led the Orange and Blue to 12 wins from 14 games in the middle chunk of the season, while keeping pace with Inter Miami, LA Galaxy, and Columbus in one of the most heated Supporters' Shield races to date. Noonan navigated new pieces, players departing for injury and in the transfer window, and has yet to field a duplicate lineup in ANY two games this year (through 41 games in all competitions, 41 different lineups).
Noonan and FC Cincinnati have clinched home field advantage for the second straight year, as the third-year head coach has made the playoffs each year in the Queen City. The Orange and Blue finished unbeaten against Hell is Real rivals and league powerhouses Columbus Crew, including a first-ever victory in the road fixture of the derby, and Noonan led his team to a 6-1 demolition of Shield winners Inter Miami CF.
MLS Goalkeeper of the Year: Roman Celentano
In his third MLS season, Celentano has recorded seven clean sheets and has earned 15 wins, a mark only trailing four keepers in the league. He made his 100th appearance for FC Cincinnati on September 21 at Nashville SC. Celentano has commanded a backline which has repeated in consecutive games just five times this season.
MLS Defender of the Year: Miles Robinson, DeAndre Yedlin
Robinson in his first season with FC Cincinnati was named an MLS All-Star for the second time in his career. The commanding center back spent a significant portion of the summer with the U.S. National Team as the only U.S. player to have been named to the United States roster for both the 2024 Copa América and the 2024 Summer Olympics. Upon his return, Robinson has started each match he was available for.
Since his acquisition from Inter Miami CF in March, Yedlin has made 26 appearances for FC Cincinnati and helped lead a backline and remain a constant in a backline which – despite seeing significant rotation – has remained one of the league’s best. Yedlin has also provided three assists from his wingback role and has been versatile, filling in at center back as well.
MLS Newcomer of the Year: Pavel Bucha, Luca Orellano
Bucha’s first season with FC Cincinnati and Major League Soccer has seem the Czech international rank top 10 in the league in distance covered. Bucha has been a mainstay in Pat Noonan’s lineup, starting and playing in 32 matches as Bucha ranks top 10 in the league in minutes played among field players. The 26-year-old has provided four assists from his midfield role.
Orellano has emerged on the scene as a force in his first season in MLS with FC Cincinnati. He has tallied 10 goals and seven assists and has twice won the MLS Player of the Matchday award this season. He was named an MLS All-Star in July and has twice scored world-class goals from midfield or beyond to win MLS Goal of the Matchday.
MLS Young Player of the Year: Kevin Kelsy, Gerardo Valenzuela
The 20-year-old Kelsy joined FC Cincinnati on loan in May from Shakhtar Donetsk and immediately made an impact, scoring early in his time with FC Cincinnati at Columbus Crew in FCC’s 2-1 win. That was the first of six goals for Kelsy in his time with the Orange and Blue.
After making his MLS debut with two appearances in 2023, Valenzuela is one of just six players to have made 30 appearances for FC Cincinnati this season. The versatile Homegrown midfielder and forward has scored one goal and added three assists for the first team this season.
Audi Goals Drive Progress Impact Award: Roman Celentano
Celentano has fully embraced a Cincinnati community which drafted him in 2022. As the young goalkeeper has grown into an elite shot stopper in MLS on the field, he's grown into a diligent community member in the city of Cincinnati.
During Kick Childhood Cancer month, while the club was promoting their new prematch tops, Celentano surprised the young child, Max, modeling the kits with an appearance, wearing the prematch top himself. He stayed, signed autographs, and took photos with him and his family. He invited Paddy, another young soccer fan and cancer patient in Cincinnati, out to a training session to fulfill his wish of taking a penalty kick on a professional goalkeeper.
Roman’s personal investment into making Cincinnati a more positive place to live is tangible in everything he does, and his commitment to advancing the culture of the club is second to none. He’s always one of the last players out on the pitch after a game signing autographs, taking pictures, whatever fans want. He’s the total embodiment of All for Cincy.
The AT&T MLS Goal of the Year and MLS Save of the Year are determined by an online fan vote on MLSsoccer.com. Fan voting for these awards will open on Monday, Oct. 21 and close on Monday, Oct. 28.
Last season, Luciano Acosta won the Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player award, Head Coach Pat Noonan earned the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year and Matt Miazga won the MLS Defender of the Year.
In addition to the club’s 2023 Year-End Award successes, Acosta’s impressive solo goal against Charlotte FC won AT&T MLS Goal of the Year and Roman Celentano’s dramatic stoppage-time save against Columbus Crew won MLS Save of the Year.
