Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Marco Pappa has been nominated for the MLS Player of the Year Award for the inaugural Premios Univision Deportes (Univision Sports Awards). Univision Deportes, the sport division of Univision Communications Inc., the leading media company serving Hispanic America, today announced the 25 categories and nominees for its first-ever awards show.
Premios Univision Deportes will air on UniMás on Thursday, December 18 at 9:00 p.m. ET with a simulcast on UDN (Univision Deportes Network).
Pappa, 27, is one of three nominees for the award, joining Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri and Chivas USA forward Erick Torres. The Guatemalan has seven goals and eight assists in 34 appearances across all competitions this season, including a brace in the Supporters’ Shield-clinching 2-0 win over the LA Galaxy in the 2014 regular season finale on October 25.
A total of 65 sports figures are nominated for their accomplishments on and off the field across multiple sports, including soccer, basketball, baseball, boxing, auto racing and more. For a full list of nominees, please visit univisiondeportes.com/PremiosUD.
Premios Univision Deportes winners will be decided by fans and a diverse committee of sports personalities, including journalists, broadcasters and retired world-class athletes. Fan-selected awards include Best Goal, Best Extreme Sports Athlete, Best Social Post of the Year and Best Artistic Performance by an Athlete. Fans can vote once a day per category at univisiondeportes.com/PremiosUD through Sunday, December 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The nomination comes one day after Pappa was chosen as the winner of FutbolMLS.com's Latino del Año 2014, presented by U.S. Army. He is the first Guatemalan to win the Latino del Año contest and the second Sounders FC winner, after Colombian forward Fredy Montero took home the honor in 2010.
Created in 2010, Latino del Año is the annual FutbolMLS.com contest that recognizes the best Latino player from the MLS regular season, via online voting by fans. The contest takes place during a three-week period following the conclusion of the regular season, and fans are the ones who determine which players advance from each round.
In a record-breaking year for Latino del Año 2014 participation, Pappa broke voting records during each round and received 68 percent of the votes in the final round.
