FRISCO, Texas (Dec. 4, 2024) – FC Dallas announced Petar Musa and Maarten Paes as its 2024 Defensive and Offensive Players of the Year today.
Defensive Player of the Year – Maarten Paes
In 2024, Paes registered 118 saves in MLS, his highest number of saves in a season since joining FC Dallas. Paes recorded six straight games with five or more saves from May 15 to June 18, 2024, and made a career-high nine saves against LAFC on June 1. Paes recorded five shutouts and recorded a save percentage of 69.41%. Paes received MLSSoccer.com Team of the Matchday honors in week 8, week 15 (bench), and Week 20 of the 2024 MLS regular season. Paes has earned Team of the Matchday honors nine times since joining Dallas in 2022. Paes also claimed the 2024 MLS Save of the Year for his double Penalty Kick save during their match against the LA Galaxy in the 31st minute on May 29, 2024.
Offensive Player of the Year – Petar Musa
Musa finished his first season with FC Dallas with the most league goals scored in a year with 16. The Croatian striker earned MLSSoccer.com Team of the Matchday honors in week 11 (bench), week 13 (bench), week 21 of the 2024 MLS regular season. Musa was named Player of the Matchday for Week 21 after scoring three goals in FC Dallas’ 5-3 win over Minnesota United FC on June 19, 2024. Across MLS, Musa finished the regular season tied in eighth for goals scored, ranked 24th in xG with 11.23 and finished fifth overall in shot efficiency with 4.77.
Paes and Musa became MLS All-Stars in 2024 and featured in the MLS All-Stars game versus the LIGA MX All-Stars on July 24 in Columbus, Ohio. This was the first-time since Paul Arriola and Jesús Ferreira represented FC Dallas in the 2022 MLS All-Star game that two FC Dallas players were named All-Stars.
