MLS Player of the Week

NEW YORK (Monday, April 7, 2025) – San Jose Earthquakes forward Josef Martínez was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra for Matchday 7 of the 2025 MLS season.

In a rematch of the inaugural MLS match played on April 6, 1996, Martínez scored his seventh career hat trick as the San Jose Earthquakes produced a seismic result in a 6-1 victory over D.C. United on Sunday afternoon (Watch Highlights from His Performance Here ). Martínez’s seven hat tricks are the most by a single player in league history, with no other player having recorded more than five. Martínez, who bagged his last hat trick on July 21, 2018, recorded his first hat trick in six years and 259 days, the second-longest span between hat tricks in MLS history. Only Dwayne De Rosario had a longer period between hat tricks, going seven years and 313 days between from Sept. 27, 2003 to Aug. 6, 2011.

The 31-year-old Venezuelan now has 120 career MLS goals and surpassed Bradley Wright-Phillips (117) for sole possession of sixth place on the league’s all-time scoring leaderboard with his first goal of the evening. Martínez now sits 13 goals shy of tying Jaime Moreno (133) for the fifth most in league history.

San Jose jumped out to a 1-0 advantage within eight minutes and Martínez doubled the lead in the 16th minute when he slotted home a finish on the counterattack (Watch Here). After D.C. and San Jose exchanged goals at the end of the first half, Martínez put the game out of reach in the 81st minute, as he found space in the 18-yard box and dispatched his shot past the D.C. goalkeeper for a 4-1 ‘Quakes lead (Watch Here ). San Jose added a fifth goal before the Venezuelan completed his seventh career MLS hat trick as he received a lofted pass from Cristian Espinoza and proceeded to chip the goalkeeper to finish off the 6-1 victory (Watch Here).

With the honor, Martínez becomes the sixth player in MLS history to be named MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra at least 10 times, joining Landon Donovan (19), Jeff Cunningham (14), Bradley Wright-Phillips (12), Chris Wondolowski (11), and Dwayne De Rosario (10). This is the first time Martínez has earned the award since Matchday 29 of 2019 with Atlanta United and he is the first San Jose player to be named Player of the Matchday since Jamiro Monteiro in 2022 (Matchday 12).

The Earthquakes now sit on 10 points (3-3-1) on the season and will look to continue its momentum next Saturday in an interstate showdown against LAFC (10:30 p.m. ET, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV).

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.