Major League Soccer announced the finalists for 2025 MLS Year-End Awards on Thursday, with the Philadelphia Union having three in contention for individual honors.
Defenders Jakob Glesnes and Kai Wagner have both been named a finalists for Defender of the Year for the second time in their careers while first-year Head Coach Bradley Carnnell is a finalist for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year.
MLS Year-End Award winners will be announced over the coming weeks, culminating in the presentation of the MLS MVP award in early December during the week of MLS Cup.
The top-seeded Philadelphia Union kick off their journey in the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs on Sunday afternoon for Game 1 of the Best-Of-Three Series against Chicago Fire FC on Sunday, October 26th (5:30 p.m. ET - MLS Season Pass, Apple TV + and FS1).
The 2022 MLS Defender of the Year, Glesnes was a key anchor for the best defense in league history, which conceeded just 35 goals in 34 regular season matches. The Norwegian center back appared in 31 matches with 30 starts, playing 2,626 minutes. Glesnes added a goal and an assist on the other end of the pitch while also winning 130 duels and 55 interceptions.
Wagner was stellar on both sides of the ball as he became the first defender in Union to have have three seasons with at least 10 assists with 11 helpers over the course of the regular season. The German left back led the team in games played and minutes with 2,769 while also adding in two goals. Wagner led the team with 18 big chances created and 92 tackles. Wagner had the most taken in the league (160), most successful crosses in the league (88), second most assists in the league as a defender.
Under the leadership of Head Coach Bradley Carnell, who took over at the helm during the offseason, the Union claimed their second Supporters' Shield. In 2025, Carnell won three Coach of the Week awards and guided his club to the best defense in the league just results in 16 of 17 home matches. The first-year Union coach also became just the third coach in MLS history to lead multiple clubs to at least 55 points in his debut season.
