NEW YORK (Monday, September 29, 2025) – LA Galaxy forward Joseph Paintsil was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday for Matchdays 36 and 37 of the 2025 MLS season.
Paintsil scored three goals and added an assist in the LA Galaxy’s 4-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night (Watch Highlights From His Performance Here ). All three of Paintsil’s goals came in the first half and the Ghanaian international became just the third player in club history to produce a first-half hat trick, joining Robbie Keane (May 26, 2013) and Alejandro Moreno (May 19, 2004). The performance was Paintsil’s first MLS hat trick and the 28th regular season hat trick in Galaxy history. Despite missing multiple games due to injury this season, Paintsil is now up to nine goals and five assists in the 2025 regular season.
Paintsil opened the scoring just four minutes into the match when he received the ball in the 18-yard box after an intricately worked corner kick and curled his effort around a Kansas City defender and into the side netting (Watch Here). He scored his second goal of the night in the 25th minute as he latched onto a loose ball in the box and tapped home from close range (Watch Here ). After Kansas City cut the deficit in half, Paintsil completed his first-half hat trick in the 43rd minute when Mauricio Cuevas found a wide-open Paintsil on the back post for an easy finish (Watch Here). In the 60th minute, he added an assist on Diego Fagúndez’s 78th career regular season goal (Watch Here).
This is the first time in his career that Paintsil has been named MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra and he joins Marco Reus (Matchday 14) as the Galaxy players to win the award this season. Paintsil is the first Ghanaian player to earn the honor since David Accam did so on Matchday 4 of the 2019 season for the Philadelphia Union.
Next up for the Galaxy is an opportunity to earn a trophy when they host LIGA MX champions Toluca at Dignity Health Sports Park in the 2025 Michelob Ultra Campeones Cup. The match will be on Wednesday, October 1 (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV), and it marks the seventh edition of the annual competition that pits the reigning MLS Cup champion against the reigning LIGA MX champion.
The MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra is selected each matchday of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while an Instagram fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio, and online media.
