The Pitch: MLS All-Star Week Kicks Off on Saturday, July 20, in Columbus, Ohio

MLS Communications

MLS All-Star Week in Columbus, Ohio kicks off on Saturday, July 20, with the start of MLS All-Star Soccer Celebration leading into the week’s marquee events: the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T on Tuesday, July 23, and the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target on Wednesday, July 24, at Lower.com Field. Both events will feature the best of the best from MLS and LIGA MX, who will face off in a battle for bragging rights between these two rival leagues.

Media can access the credential application for all MLS All-Star Week festivities, including the 2024 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target and the 2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T, by **CLICKING HERE**. The deadline for credential applications is tomorrow, July 17 at 5 p.m. ET.

Additionally, media interested in attending the MLS All-Star Soccer Celebration ribbon cutting event to kick off MLS All-Star Week at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 20, at McFerson Commons Park can **RSVP for the event here**.

Immediately after the event, MLS GO will host a soccer clinic with local children and youth organizations at the MLS GO Mini Pitch inside Soccer Celebration alongside Columbus Crew youth coaches and MLS NEXT All-Stars Chase Adams and Tristan Brown. Please reach out to Justin Sousa (justin.sousa@mlssoccer.com) with any questions.

MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T Rosters Feature Special Guests

National Women’s Soccer League Houston Dash forward Diana Ordóñez, LIGA MX Femenil Chivas forward Alicia Cervantes, and MLS and LIGA MX Greats Sacha Kljestan and Luis Hernández will join All-Stars from MLS and LIGA MX to compete in five different challenges 2024 MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T. The event, which will take place at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday, July 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET, will broadcast for free exclusively on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV in English and Spanish.

2023 Landon Donovan MLS MVP midfielder Luciano Acosta (FC Cincinnati), 2023 MLS Cup presented by Audi MVP forward Cucho Hernández (Columbus Crew), and two-time MLS All-Star midfielder Riqui Puig (LA Galaxy) are among the top players headlining the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T roster. St. Louis CITY SC and reigning MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Roman Bürki, former Spain Men’s National Team defender Jordi Alba (Inter Miami CF), European Championship-winner Federico Bernardeschi (Toronto FC), FIFA World Cup-winner Sergio Busquets (Inter Miami CF), midfielders Evander (Portland Timbers) and Ryan Gauld (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), and goalkeeper Maarten Paes (FC Dallas) round out the MLS roster.

Former Mexico Men’s National Team icon Andrés Guardado (León), 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup winner Salomón Rondón (Pachuca), and 2024 LIGA MX Clausura champion and former LA Galaxy player Jonathan Dos Santos (Club América) will lead the 10-man LIGA MX All-Star Skills Challenge squad. Also participating will be Roberto Alvarado (Guadalajara), Juan Brunetta (Tigres), Sergio Canales (Monterrey), Cesar Huerta (Pumas UNAM), Luis Malagon (Club América), Kevin Mier (Cruz Azul), and Gonzalo Piovi (Cruz Azul).

MLS and LIGA MX are tied in the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T intracontinental rivalry. LIGA MX won the first installment in Los Angeles in 2021, and MLS took the honors in Minnesota in 2022.

After a rousing success last year, the fan-favorite Goalie Wars competition returns to MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T in 2024. Jean Antoine (Chattanooga FC), Michael Collodi (North Texas SC), Stas Lapkes (Columbus Crew 2) and Chituru Odunze (Crown Legacy FC) will compete head-to-head in a single-elimination tournament, defending their own net while trying to score on their opponent by throwing, kicking, or drop-kicking the ball. It will be a back-and-forth battle for three 90-second rounds as the goalkeepers test their shot-stopping abilities and goal-scoring touch.

FC Dallas goalkeeper and MLS All-Star Maarten Paes stopped by the MLB Home Run Derby in Arlington, TX July 15th. Twitter

Bengals cornerback Cameron Taylor-Britt pulled the sword at the FC Cincinnati match on Saturday. Twitter

MLS and Jeni’s Ice Cream teamed up to create a delectable custom flavor called "Cookies & Cleats" for All-Star Week. Instagram

MLS Great Frankie Hedjduk tested out the Marshmello headpiece ahead of the All-Star concert featuring Marshmello and PinkPantheress on July 21, 2024. Instagram

D.C. United defender and club icon Steve Birnbaum announces his retirement after an 11-season career with the club in MLS. Twitter.

Nagbe’s Full Circle Journey to MLS All-Star

Less than two percent of athletes turn their professional dreams into reality. Escaping a Civil War as a baby and moving around the world through the age of 11 would seemingly lower those odds, but Columbus Crew midfielder and captain and 2024 MLS All-Star Darlington Nagbe is impervious to the odds.

Thirteen years after making his professional debut, Nagbe is one of 10 players to make 400 MLS regular-season appearances and, after lifting the MLS Cup in 2020 and 2023 with the Crew, Nagbe became the 10th player in league history to win MLS’s most prestigious team honor four times.

An Ohio-native by way of Liberia, Nagbe rose the ranks of college soccer at the University of Akron, leading the school to its first-ever College Cup title and earning the MAC Hermann Trophy as the College Soccer Player of the Year in 2010. After two seasons, he was selected second overall by the Portland Timbers in the 2011 MLS SuperDraft, where he began his professional dream.

Nagbe would go on to lead his clubs to a lot of firsts over the past decade, as he helped the Timbers win their first-ever MLS Cup in 2015 and Atlanta United capture their first MLS Cup in 2018, in only the club’s second MLS season. He’s also represented the U.S. Men’s National Team over 20 times and was a cornerstone to the team that lifted the 2017 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Now, the three-time MLS All-Star will step onto Lower.com Field representing the MLS club he grew up closest to in front of a home crowd looking for another feat to add to his decorated career.

Real Salt Lake’s First MLS All-Star Homegrown

As the goal-scoring heroics of Real Salt Lake’s front four continue to receive plaudits for energizing the club’s Supporters’ Shield push in 2024, MLS All-Star Justen Glad has been the cornerstone of a top-five defense in the Western Conference this season.

The RSL Homegrown defender is in his 11th MLS season with the club and his eighth as a locked-in starter since taking over the role as a 19-year-old in 2016. Glad is sixth in MLS regular-season appearances for the club (230) and will likely surpass Javier Morales (240) later this season for fifth all-time in RSL history.

Glad, who was named Real Salt Lake’s Most Valuable Player by his teammates in 2023, was the first RSL Homegrown player to captain the club and reach the 200-games played milestone. Now, the American defender is the first Homegrown player to represent Salt Lake at an MLS All-Star Game and will compete alongside former Real Salt Lake Homegrown Aaron Herrera (now with D.C. United) in preparation for the MLS All-Star Game presented by Target.

With Glad playing a crucial role in his club’s chase for its first-ever Supporters’ Shield title, he will now set his sights on Columbus and bring glorywill look to help MLS score a victory over the LIGA MX All-Star Team on Wednesday, July 24 (8 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

To assist in your coverage of the 2024 MLS season, the MLS Communications staff has provided the following media resources, all of which are available on MLSsoccer.com/Media-Resources.