U.S. Soccer announced the ballot for the National Soccer Hall of Fame Class of 2017 on Wednesday, as 33 former players have been nominated for selection to the lifetime career honor.
Among the first-time nominees this year is former LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, eligible as he played at least five seasons in the top flight in the US and was an MLS Best XI selection in 2011. Also on the ballot for the first time is longtime goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, current Colorado Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni, Houston Dynamo striker Brian Ching, goalkeeper Joe Cannon and defender Danny Califf, among others.
According to U.S. Soccer, the criteria for nomination is the following: "In order to be eligible for election as a Player, an individual must be retired for at least three full calendar years, but for no more than 10 full calendar years, and have either: 1) Played in at least 20 full international games for the U.S.; if played prior to 1990, the game requirement is reduced to 10 games, or 2) Played at least five seasons in an American first-division professional league and named to a postseason league All-Star team at least once."
After the vote is conducted, the selections to this year's class of the National Soccer Hall of Fame will be announced later this year.
Here's the full 2017 National Soccer Hall of Fame Player Ballot:
Chris Albright
Chris Armas
David Beckham
Gregg Berhalter
Danny Califf
Joe Cannon
Steve Cherundolo
Brian Ching
Jeff Cunningham
Tina Frimpong Ellerston
Eddie Gaven
Amado Guevara
Kevin Hartman
Frankie Hejduk
Chris Klein
Jason Kreis
Eddie Lewis
Kate Sobrero Markgraf
Pablo Mastroeni
Clint Mathis
Tiffeny Milbrett
Heather Mitts
Jaime Moreno
Ben Olsen
Pat Onstad
Leslie Osborne
Steve Ralston
Ante Razov
Tony Sanneh
Briana Scurry
Taylor Twellman
Aly Wagner
Josh Wolff
* On the ballot for the first time
** On the ballot for the final time
