Major League Soccer Golden Boot co-leader Sam Surridge, and former league MVPs Hany Mukhtar and Carles Gil are among six players added to the 2025 MLS All-Star roster, the league announced Tuesday, July 15.
Surridge has been a frontrunner in the MLS Golden Boot race this season with 16 goals – a mark recently tied by Inter Miami All-Star Lionel Messi in the last month – but was a notable snub when the All-Star roster was first announced on June 25. Surridge will make his first All-Star appearance.
The 2025 MLS All-Star Game will be played on Wednesday, July 23 at 9 p.m. ET (MLS Season Pass on Apple TV), with the MLS All-Stars facing off against standouts from Mexico’s LIGA MX at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. The additions were made by MLS All-Star head coach Nico Estévez of Austin FC.
Surridge and Mukhtar, the 2022 MLS MVP making his fourth consecutive All-Star appearance, have been instrumental in helping Nashville SC to third place in the Eastern Conference behind the Philadelphia Union and FC Cincinnati.
Mukhtar is one of four players in MLS with 10 goals and eight assists this season. He joins the other three already named 2025 All-Stars in Cincinnati’s Evander (13 goals, eight assists) and San Diego’s Anders Dreyer (11 goals, 15 assists) and Orlando City’s Martín Ojeda (10 goals, nine assists). Mukhtar leads all players with 76 goals and 132 goal contributions since joining MLS in 2020.
Gil, a midfielder for the New England Revolution and the MLS MVP in 2021, earns his third All-Star nod leading the club with 15 goal contributions (eight goals, seven assists) in 21 matches this season.
San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Cristian Espinoza earns his second MLS All-Star Game appearance. He has 11 assists and four goals in 20 matches, and has recorded at least 11 assists in each of the last four seasons.
Orlando City SC forwardMarco Pašalić, an All-Star for the first time, has 10 goals and four assists in 22 matches during his first season with the club.
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Obed Vargas, who became the third-youngest player in MLS history to appear in a match at 16 in 2022, is also a first-time All-Star. The 19-year-old midfielder has a goal and three assists in 18 starts during the regular season, and is considered one of the league’s most promising young players.
Messi, 38, is the oldest player on the 2025 MLS All-Star roster followed by his Inter Miami teammate Jordi Alba, 36. It’s unclear whether the Argentine World Cup champion and 2024 MLS MVP will participate in the showcase. He did not last year.
Seven players from the U.S. men’s national team were among MLS All-Stars initially announced: Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte), Max Arfsten (Columbus), Alex Freeman (Orlando), Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake), Miles Robinson (Cincinnati), Sebastian Berhalter and Brian White (Vancouver).
Austin FC forward Brandon Vazquez won’t participate after he suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee during the US Open Cup quarterfinal match against San Jose Earthquakes on July 8.
2025 MLS All-Star roster by position and selection mechanism
GOALKEEPERS (3)
Dayne St. Clair (Minnesota United FC / Voted In)
Brad Stuver (Austin FC / Coach’s Selection)
Yohei Takaoka (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Coach’s Selection)
DEFENDERS (8)
Jordi Alba (Inter Miami CF / Voted In)
Max Arfsten (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection)
Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In)
Michael Boxall (Minnesota United FC / Voted In)
Alex Freeman (Orlando City SC / Voted In)
Jakob Glesnes (Philadelphia Union / Coach’s Selection)
Andy Najar (Nashville SC / Coach’s Selection)
Miles Robinson (FC Cincinnati / Coach’s Selection)
MIDFIELDERS (10)
Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In)
David Da Costa (Portland Timbers / Coach’s Selection)
Cristian Espinoza (San Jose Earthquakes / Coach’s Addition)
Evander (FC Cincinnati / Voted In)
Carles Gil (New England Revolution / Coach’s Addition)
Diego Luna (Real Salt Lake / Voted In)
Hany Mukhtar (Nashville SC / Coach’s Addition)
Jeppe Tverskov (San Diego FC / Coach’s Selection)
Obed Vargas (Seattle Sounders / Coach’s Addition)
Philip Zinckernagel (Chicago Fire FC / Coach’s Selection)
FORWARDS / WINGERS (11)
Patrick Agyemang (Charlotte FC / Commissioner’s Pick)
Tai Baribo (Philadelphia Union / Voted In)
Denis Bouanga (LAFC / Voted In)
Anders Dreyer (San Diego FC / Coach’s Selection)
Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano (San Diego FC / Commissioner’s Pick)
Lionel Messi (Inter Miami CF / Voted In)
Marco Pašalić (Orlando City SC / Coach’s Addition)
Diego Rossi (Columbus Crew / Coach’s Selection)
Sam Surridge (Nashville SC / Coach’s Addition)
Brandon Vazquez (Austin FC / Coach’s Selection /Injured)
Brian White (Vancouver Whitecaps FC / Voted In)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLS adds six players to All-Star roster: Here’s who made the list
