Chawinga becomes 1st back-to-back NWSL MVP

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Kansas City Current forward Temwa Chawinga won the National Women’s Soccer League’s Most Valuable Player award for the second straight season on Wednesday, becoming the first player in league history to win back-to-back MVP awards.

Chawinga received the award at the San Jose Civic Center as part of the NWSL’s first formal awards show in its 12-season history.

Chawinga scored 15 goals this year to earn a second consecutive NWSL Golden Boot. Last year, she scored 20 goals to set a new single-season league scoring record.

“I just thank my teammates. Without my teammates, I don’t achieve these things,” Chawinga said after receiving the award.

Only Sam Kerr has also won two NWSL MVP awards, in 2017 and 2019. Kerr won three straight Golden Boots from 2017-19.

Chawinga beat out competition from Current teammate Bia Zaneratto, San Diego Wave forward Delphine Cascarino, Gotham FC forward Esther González and North Carolina Courage midfielder Manaka Matsukubo.

The award was determined based on a weighted voting scale: players (40%), owners/general managers/coaches (25%), media (25%) and fans (10%).

Bev Yanez was named the NWSL Coach of the Year after leading Racing Louisville to its best-ever season and reaching the playoffs. She becomes the first former NWSL player to win the coaching award.

“I’m so grateful for the team — for the team believing in me, trusting in me. I couldn’t be up here without them,” Yanez said.

Yanez beat out competition from Vlatko Andonovski, who guided the Kansas City Current to a record-breaking season for points (65) and wins (21).

“I was told really early on when the opportunity presented itself to me that there’s no right time to become a head coach, and that always stuck with me, because I was thinking to myself, am I ready for this? … I believe everyone has imposter syndrome. It actually never goes away. And I chose to embrace it,” Yanez added.

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The Current did also scoop up the Goalkeeper of the Year award, through Brazil international Lorena.

Defender of the Year went to Tara McKeown, of NWSL finalists Washington Spirit and the United States, with Matsukubo taking home the award for the league’s best midfielder.

“I didn’t think that I would be here when I switched to defender. So, now that I have, I’m really grateful and just having a lot of fun,” said McKeown, who converted from forward to center-back at the start of the 2023 season.

Gotham FC and USWNT defender Lilly Reale was named Rookie of The Year. The 22-year-old appeared in all 26 regular season matches for Gotham, starting 21 times. She also started in both the quarterfinals and semifinals of the NWSL playoffs as Gotham advanced to the championship match.

Sam Hiatt of the Portland Thorns won the Lauren Holiday Impact Award for her work with Candlelighters Oregon, which will receive a $50,000 donation from Nationwide to support children with cancer and their families.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.