After a staggering 917 submissions, two rounds of judge selections, and 1176 votes cast in the open community vote, we are happy to finally unveil the winners of the 2025 North American Soccer Photo Contest.

In this final round of selections, the photo receiving the most public votes in each category advanced as the official public selection for that category. Once the public voting closed, each public selection counted as a single judge’s vote, effectively serving as an eighth judge in this final round to crown the five category winners.

The overall community prize was awarded to the photo that received the most total votes in the popular vote.

A closed vote + deliberation session by this year’s judges determined the overall Grand Prize Winner, selected from the pool of 25 finalists.

Once again, we would like to thank everyone for participating and sharing their excellent work from 2025. It was an incredible year for submissions, reflected in both the tight margins of the community vote and the judge selections.

With that in mind, we would like to congratulate all of this year’s winners for their exceptional work and their remarkable ability to capture the beauty of our sport in North America.

These are your 2025 winners:

MIKE FIECHTNER | GROWING THE GAME CATEGORY Winner

Mike’s photo is the winner of our Growing the Game Category. The prompt asked photographers to show their “creative representation of growing the beautiful game in North America.”

Caption: “A young boy from the Make-A-Wish Foundation meets his idol, Lionel Messi during walkouts before the Leagues Cup Final in Seattle.”

BRIAN HIGGINS | CELEBRATIONS category winner

Brian’s photo is the winner of our Celebrations Category. The prompt asked photographers to submit “photographs capturing the excitement after a goal, winning a match, or a championship - soccer's most prized moments.”

Caption: “Alexis Vega standing above the rest of the team during Toluca FC's trophy lift after defeating LA Galaxy in the Campeones Cup.”

STEVEN BURROUGHS | MATCH ACTION category winner

Steven’s photo is the winner of our Match Action Category. The prompt asked photographers to show “Goals, reactions, saves, etc - anything on the field during the full 90. No celebrations.”

Caption: “Atlanta United Goalkeeper Brad Guzan making a save against Inter Miami, shot from the roof of the Benz.”

NOAH GOLDBERG | FROM THE STANDS category winner

Noah’s photo is the winner of our From the Stands Category. The prompt asked participants to submit “photographs made from the perspective of a fan, shot entirely from the stands, concourse, or general spectator areas. Intended for images captured without requiring media credentials or special access (no remote cameras).”

Caption: “Austin FC forward Brandon Vazquez #9 celebrates a goal during the second half of the match vs. LA Galaxy on April 19, 2025. While inside the goal, Vazquez grabs the back of net in pure elation as he screams to the Austin FC Supporter Section in the foreground.”

JAKE WENDEL | overall community winner & SOCCER FANDOM category winner

Jake’s photo is the winner of our Soccer Fandom Category as well as the overall community vote winner with 19.1% of the vote from the 1176 voters! The prompt asked photographers to show “The people. Photographs capturing the essence of soccer fandom in North America.”

Caption: “Emerging through smoke and sound, a drummer from St. Louis’ Fleur de Noise leads the prematch march to the stadium. A symbol of the rhythm and ritual driving soccer fandom in North America.”

Brian HIGGINS | GRAND PRIZE WINNER

After much deliberation from this year’s group of judges, Brian’s photo is the winner of the 2025 Grand Prize. His photo was selected from the 25 overall finalists and crowned for its creativity, quality, originality, responsiveness to the prompt, and overall impact.

Caption: “Alexis Vega standing above the rest of the team during Toluca FC's trophy lift after defeating LA Galaxy in the Campeones Cup.”

Judge Comments on Winning Photo

Jared Martinez: The composition was different than anything else submitted. We all know how chaotic a post-final celebration can be, so to isolate Vega (such a key player) in that moment, hit focus while all that confetti is dropping, that’s an all-time shot for sure.

Nick Bastoky: I think it was one of the most unique photos submitted. I loved how he was just at the bottom of the frame and blended into the confetti. Felt like he was a part of the photo and not in the photo, if that makes sense.

Jessie Alcheh: Overall winner for me is the confetti image. I think in those very chaotic moments of celebration, it can get overwhelming and busy. This was definitely super intentionally shot as well as super intentionally edited. I like that the confetti leads me to the player. It’s unexpected and playful. Not only do we get emotion, but we get an atmosphere.

Anissa Dimilta: I’d also have to say the confetti shot for a lot of the same reasons. I love that he’s not the focus of the image. You’re kind of mesmerized by all this confetti, and as your eyes float down the image, he appears, almost as one with the confetti! It’s something different - not a typical confetti shot we see!