Philadelphia Union Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya Named MLS Player of the Week

CHESTER, Pa. (August 5, 2019) – Philadelphia Union announced today that midfielder Alejandro Bedoya was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for Week 22 of the 2019 MLS regular season.

Bedoya’s opening goal against D.C. United helped the Union to a crucial 5-1 road victory at Audi Field, re-taking first place in the Eastern Conference. Following his goal, Bedoya took a stand against gun violence into a nearby field microphone. He also spoke passionately about the issue in a postgame interview with media.

The third-minute goal was the earliest tally of the season for the Union, surpassing Marco Fabian’s fourth-minute strike vs. Orlando on July 7. The goal also came as part of an impressive overall performance for Philadelphia, which set an all-time club record for most shots in a single road game (26, exceeding the 22 they had on 7/3/19 at Orlando) as well as in shots on goal (14, exceeding the previous record of nine, done five times previously, most recently in that same match at Orlando).

This is the first-ever MLS Player of the Week award for Bedoya, who joins a group of 11 different players in Union history to earn the recognition. The Union captain is the third different Philadelphia player to win MLS Player of the Week this season, joining David Accam (Week 4) and Ilsinho (Week 15). That total ties an all-time club record for most Player of the Week awards This is the first-ever MLS Player of the Week award for Bedoya, who joins a group of 11 different players in Union history to earn the recognition. The Union captain is the third different Philadelphia player to win MLS Player of the Week this season, joining David Accam (Week 4) and Ilsinho (Week 15). That total ties an all-time club record for most Player of the Week awards.

The full list of Union POTW award winners is as follows: Sebastien Le Toux (2010 [2x]), Justin Mapp (2011), Jack McInerney (2013), Chris Pontius (2016), Roland Alberg (2016), Ilsinho (2016, 2019), CJ Sapong (2017), Borek Dockal (2018), Jay Simpson (2018), David Accam (2019) and Alejandro Bedoya (2019).

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.