Christian Pulisic is enjoying one of his best goalscoring seasons despite struggling to find consistency due to recurring fitness issues. However, despite his strong form in 2025, Pulisic has been snubbed from a major USMNT award and is now set to remain tied at the top alongside legend Landon Donovan until 2026.
Throughout 2025, and in Mauricio Pochettino’s first year in charge of the USMNT, Pulisic surprisingly struggled to earn minutes with the national team. Specifically, the AC Milan star made only six appearances, missing 12 other matches including the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup. After registering just one assist in those games, Pulisic has now been left out of consideration for a key individual honor.
The finalists for the 2025 U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year in the End-of-Year Awards have been announced, and Christian Pulisic is not among them. For this year’s edition, fans can vote for goalkeeper Matt Freese, defenders Max Arfsten, Alex Freeman and Chris Richards, and midfielder Malik Tillman.
His limited involvement with the USMNT ultimately kept Pulisic out of the Federation’s shortlist for the top performers of 2025. In fact, this marks the first time he has not been a finalist since 2018, when Zack Steffen, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie composed the list.
Christian Pulisic #10 of United States warms up before the Ecuador game.
The USMNT enjoyed strong moments in 2025 with its run to the Gold Cup final, followed by impressive November wins over Paraguay and Uruguay. However, Pulisic’s absence during many of these key stretches played a major role in his omission from the final list.
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Pulisic, tied with Donovan until 2026
Despite being one of the national team’s biggest absences in 2025, Christian Pulisic is still expected to play a crucial role for the USMNT heading into the 2026 World Cup. But in terms of individual accolades, the Milan star will have to wait until next year to break his tie with Landon Donovan.
Pulisic is the USMNT player who has won the U.S. Soccer Male Player of the Year award the most times with four, claiming the honor in alternating years: 2017, 2019, 2021 and most recently in 2023. Donovan previously held the record with four wins of his own, in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010. Now sharing the throne, it appears only a matter of time before the 27-year-old surpasses the former LA Galaxy icon.
