It’s time to hand out some awards!
While the 2025 season was a complete disaster and there’s a strong case for nobody deserving an award, we will continue with this Scarves and Spikes tradition as we have in previous seasons. Maybe think of it as finding the best of the worst, if that helps.
Thank you to everyone who voted this year. Without further ado, here are the results!
Most Valuable Player – Bartosz Slisz
This one was a bit of a surprise, given that he wasn’t actually on the ballot, but the power of the write-in votes prevailed! The Polish midfielder played 32 games for the Five Stripes across all competitions and was pretty consistent throughout the season. He scored a few bangers, did a respectable job of trying to help the team build up, and even had some clutch defensive interventions at the back.
Voting results:
- Bartosz Slisz: 39%
- Alexey Miranchuk: 34.1%
- Miguel Almiron: 12.2%
- Other: 14.7%
Most Improved Player – Ronald Hernandez
The Venezuelan international has mainly been in the shadows in past seasons, but took on a much bigger role in 2025. With Brooks Lennon falling out of favor with then-head coach Ronny Deila, Hernandez stepped in and brought some more synergy to the right side thanks to his friendship with Miguel Almiron. While far from perfect, he stepped up when the club needed him and delivered some decent performances.
Voting results:
- Ronald Hernandez: 39%
- Luke Brennan: 34.1%
- Bartosz Slisz: 9.7%
- Matt Edwards: 7.3%
- Other: 9.9%
Young Player of the Year – Jayden Hibbert
Although watching Atlanta United’s games in 2025 may have been a mostly frustrating experience for 17s, the bright side was getting to see some inspired performances by young goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert. The 21-year-old Canadian international got his first chance in a 1-1 draw at Toronto FC in July before getting a real grasp on the position in late August and never letting go. His quick reflexes, confident handling, and impressive saves often prevented games from getting completely out of hand toward the end of the season.
Now the question remains: Will Hibbert be Atlanta United’s starting goalkeeper in 2026?
Voting results:
- Jayden Hibbert: 56.1%
- Jay Fortune: 29.3%
- Luke Brennan: 12.2%
- Will Reilly: 2.4%
Best Signing of 2025 – Steven Alzate
Atlanta United focused on reinforcing the spine of the team in the summer transfer window, and Alzate was a key part of that. His dribbling and eye for good balls into the final third were assets down the home stretch of the season. Some of his giveaways and slow play have raised questions, but he’s here for the long haul.
Voting results:
- Steven Alzate: 29.3%
- Miguel Almiron: 26.8%
- Enea Mihaj: 19.5%
- Juan Berrocal: 4.9%
- Emmanuel Latte Lath: 2.4%
- Other: 17.1%
Defender of the Year – Stian Gregersen
While he did miss a lot of time this season due to injuries, Stian Gregersen proved to be the team’s best defender. He was highly capable in aerial duels and often had to put out fires at the back with quick, decisive interventions. If he could just stay on the field, he might be one of the best center backs in the league.
Voting results:
- Stian Gregersen: 46.3%
- Enea Mihaj: 12.2%
- Pedro Amador: 7.3%
- Juan Berrocal: 4.9%
- Efrain Morales: 4.9%
- The Post/Crossbar: 4.9%
- Other: 19.5%
Midfielder of the Year – Bartosz Slisz
Having conquered our MVP vote, it should be no surprise that Slisz was elected as Midfielder of the Year. Despite the poor results and early elimination from playoff contention, Slisz demonstrated his grit and talent in an effort to provide fans with the best spectacle possible.
Voting results:
- Bartosz Slisz: 80.5%
- Alexey Miranchuk: 12.2%
- Jay Fortune: 7.3%
Forward of the Year – Jamal Thiare
After spending over $30 million on attacking talent in the offseason, I don’t think anyone would’ve expected Jamal Thiare to win this award. I suppose life’s full of surprises.
The Senegalese striker fulfilled his role as a substitute striker, stepping in when Emmanuel Latte Lath was absent or just straight up underperforming. Tallying six goals and two assists in 31 appearances across all competitions, Thiare helped provide some goals in a season where that was surprisingly difficult.
Voting results:
- Jamal Thiare: 68.3%
- Miguel Almiron: 22%
- Saba Lobjanidze: 2.4%
- Other: 7.3%
Goal of the Year
Remember when Alexey Miranchuk went on a banger-scoring frenzy over the summer? This was one of those goals! With the Five Stripes down 2-1 to visiting Seattle Sounders in the eighth minute of second half stoppage time, the Russian international midfielder scored this absolute rocket to equalize. This sensational strike won MLSSoccer.com’s Goal of the Matchday honors for Matchday 27 with 45.7% of the fan vote.
Voting results:
- Alexey Miranchuk vs. Seattle Sounders (99′) – July 26: 46.3%
- Bartosz Slisz vs. Orlando City (83′) – May 28: 34.1%
- Saba Lobjanidze vs. Atlas FC (38′) – August 6: 9.8%
- Miguel Almiron vs. D.C. United (3′) – October 18: 7.3%
- Other: 2.4%
That concludes our awards for 2025! Hopefully, we’ll have some better moments and performances to cherish in 2026. Let us know in the comments what other categories you would like to see in next year’s Scarves and Spikes Awards!
[…] Scarves and Spikes’ 2025 Atlanta United Awards […]
Slisz. You all are funny. Man this year was so horrible that Slisz is the standout. I understand the minority view on this forum, but those numbers do make me laugh. Sorry for having a much different opinion.
I didn’t vote, but is there a player you can point to who did better? Because I can’t.
Thought this news would be a good place for it. Evidently Luke Brennan was hit by a car and ended up with a concussion and a fractured cheekbone. He is expected to be alright by preseason. Atlanta really cannot avoid injury even away from the pitch…
The real surprise in the article is that somehow Miranchuk finished second in the MVP balloting – he has talent, and maybe in the right system / style, he would be very good. However, his pace and style of play is sooo slow. He is one of the players that I hope we ship this offseason.
Maybe have the most disappointing player awards. Lots of competition this year.
I’ll start: ELL, Miggie, Miranchuk, Brooks, Saba, Amador, Muyumba…….
My order for this – ELL, Saba, Brooks, Miranchuk (would have been higher w/o the good stretch he had), Muyumba, Amador. Dont think Miggie should be on this list.
Add Klich to that list. 4th DP bs. With a different setup he might’ve done better, but a double pivot of Miranchuk and Klich was an absolute mess.
Yep. There’s a reason DC paid him to leave.
Had completely forgotten about Klich. Yeah, he definitely deserves to be on the most disappointing list.
That’s a great point and yeah, I forgot about him and would agree Klich was a big disappointment. I had high hopes for that move but it just really didn’t work out. Wow, thanks for the reminder.
Don’t forget Deila.
Again, I can’t give rankings for good vs. bad in this season because it’s obvious this was all on the coach. You saw glimpses of what could be, but it wasn’t cohesive enough and that’s where the coach has to fix it. I’m not faulting Saba, Brooks, Amador or Miranchuk completely. We know what Saba and Brooks can bring, we saw what Amador’s strong suit is. Miranchuk needs to be figured out in this new system. The only one I think was a true dud was Muyumba. Even Klich showed some signs of what he brings, but he was rarely utilized there. We need to see what new coach does with people like ELL, Miggy, Miranchuk and the supporting cast because the 2025 system was “run around with heads cut off” and it’s clear that doesn’t work.
Even Muyumba, I remember some early games where we dominated midfield for a half using I want to say Muyumba and Fortune, though I forget if they were double 8s in front of Slisz or double 6s behind Miranchuk. Muyumba’s problem before was that he did a lot but burned out very quickly. As the season progressed and we became less explosive in the first half, Muyumba just never showed that spark anymore.
This was also the case when he first came here under Pineda too. He moved, made quick progressive passes, and was great, just tired out too quickly. Once efforts were made to make him last longer, everything great about his game also disappeared.
All my other opinions aside. I would agree with this take, and is the position I strongly defended in our longest stretch of bad coaching. (I even similarly defended Araujo who has better stats than Saba currently)
Curious to know what your opinion was of Pineda?
I don’t think he deserved all the hate he got but I do feel like he was a bit conservative in his play at times. Canning him mid season seemed a bit of a stretch though, even if it ended well for us (at least initially).
I appreciate your empathy, and I certainly made it clear my criticism wasn’t personal. But he was just bad at coaching soccer professionally. This club was too big for him. He had Almada, and Giako but were the lower seeded team in the playoffs and lost in the first round of 2023.
If something isn’t working out, you should course correct immediately. Holding onto him for 3 years certainly didn’t improve us as a club at all, so that theory is obviously flawed.
The real mistake for the club in my opinion, was not bringing in the next coach sooner, when he was eventually let go. A coach brought in mid season gives that coach the best leg up in evaluation and preparation for the next season. That is the biggest advantage we gifted Pineda as a first time head coach when he first got here. And why he appeared better than he was in that second season. *Otherwise, a new coach has to use the off season to try and blindly figure out what he has to work with, get to know his players and it risks getting it wrong in the early parts of the season – loosing time adjusting the roster when it counts.
*That is what happened when we hired Deila, and I fear we aren’t helping the next coach with any more delays in an announcement.
Gotta be ELL.
With salary goggles on, yes. ELL. All things equal, looking at results, statistics and the pure eye test. Absolutely Saba takes the disappointment award this year. No contest.
Now, I’m learning to play this salary cap game, since watching ATLUTD, and it’s something new that I’ve never had to do in my 50 years of watching this sport, but I can see how ELL has the advantage of disappointment when considering money. So I support that.
But, I choose to keep looking at player for player like I always have and this year definitely was most disappointing for Saba for me.