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How the MLS All-Star Game works

Matt Turner celebrates during the 2021 MLS All-Star Game
Matt Turner celebrates during the 2021 MLS All-Star Game

We’ll take part in the MLS All-Star Game for the second time when we visit the United States ahead of the 2023/24 season kicking off.

We won the fixture 2-1 in San Jose in 2016 - more information on it is here - beating a team made up of the likes of Andrea Pirlo, David Villa, Kaka and Didier Drogba.

The match will be shown live on Apple TV, with details on how to tune in here

But how is the MLS All-Star roster selected? Well, our hosts’ squad will be chosen by a combination of fan votes, nominations from the coach of the opposition and picks from the league commissioner.

Matt Turner was selected in 2021, while with New England Revolution - and he took home the MVP trophy after excelling in a penalty shoot-out against Liga MX All-Stars, saving two spot-kicks.

The All-Star Game was first played in July 1996, between MLS East and MLS West. After another edition of the same fixture, the 1998 match saw MLS USA beat MLS World 6-1.

The East v West format returned between 1999 and 2001 - and again in 2004 - while MLS All-Stars beat United States (3-2) and Guadalajara (3-1) in 2002 and 2003.

Between 2005 and 2019, MLS All-Stars faced teams from Europe and, after the game was cancelled in 2020, they played against Liga MX All-Stars twice - the first match seeing Turner excel, the second resulting in a 2-1 win last year.

The list of All-Star Game MVPs - featuring Turner and Chuba Akpom - is as follows:

1996: Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny)

1997: Carlos Valderrama (Tampa Bay Mutiny)

1998: Brian McBride (Columbus Crew)

1999: Preki (Kansas City Wizards)

2000: Mamadou Diallo (Tampa Bay Mutiny)

2001: Landon Donovan (San Jose Earthquakes)

2002: Marco Etcheverry (D.C. United)

2003: Carlos Ruiz (LA Galaxy)

2004: Amado Guevara (NY/NJ Metrostars)

2005: Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution)

2006: Dwayne De Rosario (Houston Dynamo)

2007: Juan Pablo Angel (New York Red Bulls)

2008: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire)

2009: Tim Howard (Everton)

2010: Federico Macheda (Manchester United)

2011: Park Ji-sung (Manchester United)

2012: Chris Pontius (D.C. United)

2013: Alessandro Florenzi (Roma)

2014: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy)

2015: Kaka (Orlando City)

2016: Chuba Akpom (Arsenal)

2017: Borja Mayoral (Real Madrid)

2018: Josef Martinez (Atlanta United)

2019: Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid)

2021: Matt Turner (New England Revolution)

2022: Dwayne St. Clair (Minnesota United)