Doug McIntyre
Soccer reporter
Antonee Robinson has been named US Soccer’s male player of the year for 2024, the confederation announced Sunday.
Known by his nickname, “Jedi,” Robinson is the first defenseman to win the award in 18 years, since Oguchi Onyewu did it in 2006. The Fulham full-back, who has also been nominated for the honor in 2022, beat fellow US Folarin. Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, Christian Pulisic and Tim Ream.
“It’s an incredible honor,” first-year receiver Robinson said after being announced as the winner. “Representing our country is not something you do for individual praise. It’s always about putting the team first and trying to do my best for the boys and the country, so to be rewarded for that is an amazing feeling.”
Robinson, 27, received more than half of the final weighted votes in votes from fans, USMNT teammates, national team coaches, major league coaches and athletic directors, members of the US Soccer board of directors and the Athletics Council, and selected media. members, former players and managers.
Robinson has established himself as perhaps the best defender in England’s prestigious Premier League over the past year. He leads all defenders in a world-leading domestic haul with seven assists, and has captained the Cottagers in ninth place ahead of Sunday’s game against Ipswich Town – attracting transfer interest from Liverpool’s leading Prem, according to local reports.
SMNT great Tim Howard, now an analyst for NBC, surprised Robinson by breaking the news just before Sunday’s game in London.
“I thought it was just a conversation with Tim about how the season is going, and when he told me that I won, I couldn’t believe it because it was the last thing I expected,” he said. “It was an interesting thing to be brought that news by him.”
Jedi made 11 appearances for the national team in 2024, helping his country win a third consecutive Concacaf Nations League title and advance to the semifinals of the 2025 tournament.
He becomes the 27th American player to be named the best player in US Soccer since the award was first presented in 1984.
Doug McIntyre is a football reporter for FOX Sports. A staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams in FIFA World Cup competitions on five continents. Follow him @by DougMcIntyre.
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