Maarten Paes is a 2024 MLS All-Star. The 26-year-old goalkeeper will represent FC Dallas in the showpiece exhibition game on July 24 in Columbus, Ohio at the Crew’s Lower.com Field against the Liga MX All-Stars.
For anyone who’s watched FC Dallas over the last three seasons, this isn’t a surprise. Paes has been among the club’s standout performers since arriving from FC Utrecht in 2022 and has wowed viewers with eye-catching saves and a knack for denying penalties.
Only now is he receiving plaudits from around the league, though. This year, despite playing in front of Dallas' leakiest defense since his arrival, Paes is performing at an elite level. Paes has made the most saves in all of MLS (97), his five shutouts are ninth-most in the league, his save percentage of 74.8 is sixth-best, and his shots per goal rate (4.03) also ranks sixth in MLS (stats per Fbref).
But it’s an All-Star game so, for better or worse, on-field performance isn't the only metric taken into account. There’s the all-important fan vote component so name recognition also comes into play. And that’s where the southeast Asian country of Indonesia becomes a factor.
Paes recently gained Indonesian citizenship with an eye to playing for its national team. Born in the Netherlands, Paes is eligible for Indonesia via his late grandmother who was born there when it was still known as the Dutch East Indies. With a soccer-mad population of 280 million people (4th-largest in the world), Indonesia provided Paes an enormous fanbase that made its presence known during the All-Star voting process.
Paes finished top three in the fan vote which included international super stars like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Hector Herrera and fellow goalkeepers Hugo Lloris and Roman Burki. It’s a star-studded list but Indonesia made sure Paes was near the top of the pile.
Indonesia’s support didn’t end after Paes was selected, though. FC Dallas’ Instagram post announcing Paes’ inclusion has garnered 417,000 Likes, 4,400 comments and 424,000 engagements. To give those social media numbers some context, that post has more engagements than all other MLS teams’ All-Star announcements combined (71,100 engagments), more than the Texas Rangers’ post after winning the World Series last year (417,000 engagements), and nearly as many as the LA Dodgers’ post announcing the signing of megastar Shohei Ohtani (461,000).
Between his on-field performances this season (and the previous two seasons), as well as his newfound international celebrity, Paes is an ideal All-Star goalkeeper.
