Chicago Fire FC Announces 2024 Award Winners
October 25, 2024 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Chicago Fire FC News Release
CHICAGO - Chicago Fire FC today announced the Club's 2024 award winners, naming Designated Player Hugo Cuypers the Most Valuable Player and Homegrown goalkeeper Chris Brady the Defensive Player of the Year. Cuypers also earned 2024 Golden Boot honors after scoring a team-high 10 goals during the MLS regular season.
Most Valuable Player and Golden Boot: Cuypers, 27, is one of just four Fire players in the last 12 seasons to be named MVP in his first campaign with the Club, joining Mike Magee (2013), Nemanja Nikolić (2017), and Xherdan Shaqiri (2022). A mainstay in the Fire's starting lineup in 2024, Cuypers became the second Fire player to record 10 or more goals in a single season since Robert Berić in 2020.
Cuypers joined the Fire for a Club-record transfer fee on Feb. 6 and scored his first MLS goal on March 16 against CF Montréal at Soldier Field. Cuypers' 90+5th minute strike tied the match at 3-3, setting up midfielder Kellyn Acosta to score the game winner just four minutes later. Cuypers then became the first Fire player to score in back-to-back matches this season with a goal on March 23 in the 1-1 draw against the New England Revolution. Additionally, after scoring a brace in the team's 4-3, come-from-behind win against the Philadelphia Union on July 3, Cuypers earned MLS Player of the Matchday honors for his performance, becoming the first Chicago Fire player to do so since Jhon Durán in Matchday 20 of 2022.
Defensive Player of the Year: Brady, 20, earned Defensive Player of the Year honors for a second consecutive year after completing his second straight season as the Fire's starting goalkeeper. Brady joins Sean Johnson and Zach Thornton as the only goalkeepers in Fire history to win the award in consecutive seasons and is the sixth overall Fire player to be named Defensive MVP in back-to-back years. In 2024, Brady tallied 107 saves in 33 games played (33 starts), becoming the sixth goalkeeper in Fire history to record more than 100 saves in a single season and the first to do so since Johnson accomplished the feat in 2012. Additionally, Brady recorded the most wins (14) for a Homegrown goalkeeper in Club history after the team's 2-1 victory over the LA Galaxy on June 1.
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