FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The first recipient of the New England Revolution’s 2022 end-of-season awards is Jack Panayotou (2004 – Cambridge, Mass.), who has been named the UnitedHealthcare Revolution Academy Player of the Year for the 2021-22 MLS NEXT season, becoming the eighth different recipient of this award.
“Jack has demonstrated tremendous progress since joining our program a little more than three years ago and his leadership and talent was evident during this summer’s MLS NEXT Cup Championship run as the tournament’s leading scorer,” Revolution Technical Director Curt Onalfo stated. “Jack is an impressive young man who is incredibly deserving of this award. We look forward to monitoring his progress closely as his bright future unfolds.”
Panayotou, 18, excelled with New England since joining the Revolution Academy in 2019. The midfielder scored four goals during the 2021-22 regular season, before recording a team-high six goals in the MLS NEXT Cup Playoffs as he propelled the Under-19s to the program’s first national championship title. Panayotou capped off the title run by scoring the game-winning goal in the final on July 3, 2022. At the professional level, Panayotou made nine appearances in MLS NEXT Pro with New England’s second team this year, recording the fourth brace in Revolution II history on April 17 in the team’s 3-2 comeback win over FC Cincinnati 2.
“We are incredibly proud of Jack and his accomplishments within and beyond our Academy program,” Director of Youth Development Rob Becerra stated. “As a pillar of our championship-winning team, he has truly earned this honor, and we are all excited to see where his career takes him.”
The Cambridge, Mass. native capped off his final Academy season with a selection to the inaugural MLS NEXT All-Star Game. He has also earned three call-ups to the U.S. Under-19 Men’s Youth National Team to date, including a selection to the roster for September’s Slovenia Nations Cup. This fall, Panayotou began his collegiate career at Georgetown University, notching two goals and two assists through his first six games played.
“It’s a real honor to be selected as the New England Revolution Academy Player of the Year. I’m extremely grateful,” Panayotou said. “I never thought when I joined the Revs as an Under-13 player that I’d be getting this award one day, so I want to thank my coaches throughout the years, more specifically Rob Becerra and Curt Onalfo. I really appreciate this and I’m very grateful. Thank you guys.”
Previous winners of the UnitedHealthcare Academy Player of the Year Award include current first team Homegrown Players Justin Rennicks (2015, 2016) and Noel Buck (2021), along with Zachary Herivaux (2014), Joe Brito (2017), Kevin Vang (2018), Tyler Freitas (2019), and Trevor Burns (2020).
The 2022-23 MLS NEXT season is now underway. Click here for complete information on MLS NEXT, Major League Soccer’s elite player development platform, including the Revolution Academy’s schedule and league standings by age group, or visit Revolutionsoccer.net to learn more.
The New England Revolution will reveal the club’s remaining 2022 Team Award winners this Saturday, October 1 before the club’s final home game of the 2022 MLS regular season, a 1:30 p.m. ET kickoff against Atlanta United FC at Gillette Stadium. The contest airs on UniMas, TUDN, Twitter.com, 98.5 The Sports Hub, and 1260 AM Nossa Radio.
