San Diego FC’s Anders Dreyer named MLS Newcomer of the Year

Following a season in which he led San Diego FC in both goals and assists on the way to the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs, forward Anders Dreyer has been named Major League Soccer’s 2025 Newcomer of the Year.

The award was announced Tuesday morning by MLS. Dreyer received 74.11% of the overall vote, which is split among media, MLS players and clubs. Nearly 82% of club voters picked Dreyer, showing just how impactful they believe he has been since coming to SDFC from Belgian side R.S.C. Anderlecht and signing a three-year deal that is paying him $2.43 million in 2025.

Dreyer learned of the award on Friday, when SDFC’s players and staff surprised him with the trophy in an impromptu ceremony. Dreyer’s wife was also present, and he received what he called “a sweet message from home in Denmark.” Dreyer’s mom, dad and family still live there.

“And then, (to receive it from) the teammates, of course,” he said Tuesday. “It’s also a prize for them. Without them, it wasn’t possible.”

Dreyer led SDFC with 19 goals and 19 assists; his 38 total goal contributions are tied for the third-most in MLS history and tied for the most ever by a first-year player. LAFC’s Son Heung-Min (6.3% of the overall vote) and the Chicago Fire’s Philip Zinckernagel (6.21% of the overall vote) finished second and third for Newcomer of the Year, respectively.

Dreyer earned MLS All-Star honors during his first year in MLS and was named the league’s player of the month for both June and August. The 27-year-old Dane is still in the running for the Landon Donovan Most Valuable Player award, though Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is considered the favorite for MLS’ highest honor.

Perhaps we should have seen this coming. Dreyer scored both of the expansion club’s goals in the team’s first-ever match, a 2-0 victory over the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy on Feb. 23. He also logged braces in a June 14 match against Minnesota United, a July 12 match against the Chicago Fire and in recent matches against the Houston Dynamo (Oct. 4) and Portland Timbers (Oct. 18).

Dreyer was acquired by SDFC in January, joining the club for training camp a few weeks later. He said he first realized SDFC could do special things eight days before its opener, when the club beat the New York Red Bulls 6-0 in an exhibition at the Coachella Valley Invitational. Dreyer scored twice, and Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, Luca de la Torre, Marcus Ingvartsen and Emmanuel Boateng chipped in scores of their own. SDFC had been outscored in its two previous friendlies, 6-0.

“That was the first time I got this feeling that this could be something, like, very, very good,” he said. “And how we’re sitting here eight, nine, 10 months later, and I won this award, and we’ve built what we’ve built already. It’s just been like a fairy tale so far, and hopefully it continues with, hopefully, four more (playoff) games.”

The chrome and azul will host the Portland Timbers on Sunday night in the decisive game of their best-of-three first-round playoff series. Dreyer will then return to Denmark for critical World Cup qualifying matches against Belarus (Nov. 15) and Scotland (Nov. 18) while MLS takes a two-week international break. SDFC’s next playoff match, should the team advance, would likely be held Nov. 24 at Snapdragon Stadium.