You can add yet another milestone to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s dazzling debut season in Major League Soccer.
The LA Galaxy striker tops the list of highest-selling player jerseys on MLSstore.com for 2018, the league announced on Monday, a year in which he's scored 22 goals and 10 assists in 26 games – including his 500th career goal – as he powers LA's dramatic late push for a spot in the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAFCDesignated Player and Mexican international Carlos Vela holds the No. 2 spot, one of 18 DPs featured on the list. Other DPs include Josef Martinez, Wayne Rooney, Miguel Almiron, Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Villa, Sebastian Giovinco, Clint Dempsey, Ezequiel Barco and Diego Rossi (both Young DPs), Diego Valeri, Bradley Wright-Phillips, Giovani dos Santos, Jozy Altidore, Dom Dwyer, Graham Zusi, Darwin Quintero Jr. and Paul Arriola.
Atlanta United lead all MLS teams with five jerseys in the top 25: Martinez, Almiron, Barco, Darlington Nagbe and Hector "Tito" Villalba. Meanwhile, Sporting Kansas City defender Zusi is the only player to appear on the list for the last five consecutive seasons.
Thirteen different countries are represented among the top 25 sellers: Sweden (Ibrahimovic), Mexico (Vela, Giovani dos Santos), Venezuela (Martinez), England (Rooney, Wright-Phillips, Dwyer), Paraguay (Almiron), Germany (Schweinsteiger), Spain (Villa), Italy (Giovinco), United States (Dempsey, Altidore, Arriola, Zusi, Cristian Roldan, Nagbe), Argentina (Barco, Valeri, Villalba, Luciano Acosta), Uruguay (Rossi), Canada (Alphonso Davies), Colombia (Quintero, Diego Chara).
Eight players are 24 or under: Almiron, Barco, Rossi, Davies, Villalba, Luciano Acosta, Roldan, Arriola. That includes three on this year’s MLSsoccer.com 22 Under 22 list: Barco (19), Rossi (20), Davies (17).
The rankings are based on overall retail sales of adidas MLS jerseys on MLSStore.com since the beginning of 2018.
Rank |
Player |
Team |
---|---|---|
1 |
Zlatan Ibrahimovic |
LA Galaxy |
2 |
Carlos Vela |
LAFC |
3 |
Josef Martinez |
Atlanta United |
4 |
Wayne Rooney |
D.C. United |
5 |
Miguel Almiron |
Atlanta United |
6 |
Bastian Schweinsteiger |
Chicago Fire |
7 |
David Villa |
NYCFC |
8 |
Sebastian Giovinco |
Toronto FC |
9 |
Clint Dempsey |
Seattle Sounders |
10 |
Ezequiel Barco |
Atlanta United |
11 |
Diego Valeri |
Portland Timbers |
12 |
Diego Rossi |
LAFC |
13 |
Bradley Wright-Phillips |
New York Red Bulls |
14 |
Giovani dos Santos |
LA Galaxy |
15 |
Darlington Nagbe |
Atlanta United |
16 |
Jozy Altidore |
Toronto FC |
17 |
Alphonso Davies |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
18 |
Hector Villalba |
Atlanta United |
19 |
Dom Dwyer |
Orlando City |
20 |
Luciano Acosta |
D.C. United |
21 |
Graham Zusi |
Sporting KC |
22 |
Cristian Roldan |
Seattle Sounders |
23 |
Darwin Quintero |
Minnesota United |
24 |
Paul Arriola |
D.C. United |
25 |
Diego Chara |
Portland Timbers |