Designated Player earns award after five goals in three matches; becomes first player from expansion team to win award since 2012
Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Month by members of the media for the month of March during the 2017 MLS season. Martinez scored five goals in three matches, including notching the league’s first hat-trick of the season. Martinez is the first player from an expansion team to win the award since Patrice Bernier won for Montreal Impact in August of 2012.
Martinez, a 23-year-old Designated Player, immediately burst onto the scene for Atlanta, spearheading an offense that ranks second in MLS with 11 goals.