Sporting Kansas City Forward Dániel Sallói Voted MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra for Matchday 9

NEW YORK (Monday, April 21, 2025) – Sporting Kansas City forward Dániel Sallói was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra for Matchday 9 of the 2025 MLS season.

In the club’s 5-3 road victory over the San Jose Earthquakes, Sallói (pronounced shallow-EE) tallied a career-best four goal contributions, including two goals and two assists, in helping Sporting Kansas City score at least five goals for the first time since March 30, 2019 against CF Montréal when the club scored seven times. Saturday marked the fourth time in Sallói’s career that he has recorded at least three goal contributions in a match and the first since August 6, 2022. He is the sixth different Sporting KC player to record at least four goal contributions in a match and the first since Gerso Fernandes on Sept. 15, 2018. Others to accomplish the feat include Mark Chung, Chris Henderson, Josh Wolff, and Preki (four times).

The Homegrown forward provided the helper on the club’s opening goal of the match, playing a quick touch to Dejan Joveljic who then found Logan Ndenbe for a left-footed rocket past the San Jose goalkeeper (18’, Watch Here). The 28-year-old striker found the back of the net two minutes later after receiving a beautiful long ball from goalkeeper John Pulskamp and finishing with a quick left foot (20’, Watch Here). With San Jose inching closer to equalizing in the second half, Sallói scored the club’s fourth goal of the match in the 73rd minute (Watch Here), deftly finishing following a strong run into the 18-yard box to secure the victory. He added his second assist of the match on Erik Thommy’s 85th minute score (Watch Here), playing a quick right foot to the cutting midfielder the club’s final goal in the 5-3 victory.

The is the second Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra honors for Sallói, who also took home the award on Matchday 28 of the 2021 season. Sallói is the first Sporting Kansas City player to win Player of the Matchday since Johnny Russell on Matchday 38 in 2023. He is the third Sporting Kansas City player to win multiple Player of the Matchday awards since 2020, joining Alan Pulido (two) and Russell (two).

Winners of two of their last three matches, Sporting Kansas City will travel to face red-hot FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium on Saturday afternoon (2:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra is selected each matchday 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 an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.