Chicago City Wire

Chicago Fire FC has announced its 2024 award winners, with Hugo Cuypers being named the Most Valuable Player and Chris Brady receiving the Defensive Player of the Year accolade. Cuypers also claimed the Golden Boot after scoring a team-high 10 goals during the Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season.

Cuypers, 27, is among four players in the last 12 seasons to be named MVP in their first campaign with Chicago Fire FC. He joins Mike Magee (2013), Nemanja Nikolić (2017), and Xherdan Shaqiri (2022) in this achievement. Throughout 2024, Cuypers was a key figure in the team's starting lineup, becoming only the second player since Robert Berić in 2020 to score 10 or more goals in a single season for the club.

Cuypers joined Chicago Fire on February 6 for a club-record transfer fee and scored his inaugural MLS goal against CF Montréal at Soldier Field on March 16. His late equalizer paved the way for midfielder Kellyn Acosta's match-winning goal minutes later. Cuypers further distinguished himself by becoming the first player to score in consecutive matches this season, notably during a draw against New England Revolution on March 23. Additionally, his two-goal performance against Philadelphia Union on July 3 earned him MLS Player of the Matchday honors—the first for any Chicago Fire player since Jhon Durán achieved it in Matchday 20 of 2022.

Chris Brady, at age 20, was recognized as Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive time after completing another season as Chicago Fire's starting goalkeeper. Brady joins Sean Johnson and Zach Thornton as goalkeepers who have won this award consecutively and is only the sixth player overall to do so. In his impressive year, Brady recorded 107 saves over 33 games—an accomplishment matched by few since Sean Johnson's record-setting year in 2012. Furthermore, Brady set a new benchmark with most wins (14) by a Homegrown goalkeeper following their victory over LA Galaxy on June 1.