Orlando City Duo Selected for 2021 MLS All-Star Game Presented by Target

ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 4, 2021) - Orlando City SC and Major League Soccer announced today that midfielder Nani and goalkeeper Pedro Gallese have been selected for the 2021 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target. The 2021 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target will take place at Banc of California Stadium, the home of LAFC. 

Nani, Gallese and the 2021 MLS All-Stars will take on the best of LIGA MX in a historic match on August 25 at 9 p.m. ET at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on FS1, Univision, TSN and TVA Sports. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster or by visiting LAFC.com. 

The roster was determined through a combination of fan, player and media voting (13 players), designations by All-Star Head Coach Bob Bradley (13 players) and a pair of selections by MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

Nani becomes the second Lion to be selected to multiple All-Star games, joining Kaká as the only other Lion to do so, while Gallese becomes the sixth Orlando City All-Star representative in Club history, joining Nani, Kaká, Cyle Larin, Dom Dwyer and Yoshi Yotún.

The Lions’ captain made an immediate impact in the 2021 MLS regular season. The four-time Premier League Champion and UEFA European Champion currently leads all City players in goals scored (8), game-winning goals (3), shots (38) and shots-on-goal (17). Nani has been named to six total MLS Teams of the Week so far this year, including three in the first XI, won MLS Player of the Week once and won AT&T Goal of the Week once. 

Gallese started the 2021 campaign with six unbeaten matches and four clean sheets in his first six matches for the Club. The Lima, Peru native earned one appearance on the MLS Team of the Week so far in 2021, On the international level he has 75 caps with Peru featuring 30 CONMEBOL Copa América appearances, 26 total clean sheets and two FIFA World Cups matches.

Fourteen clubs join Orlando City in being represented on this year’s All-Star Game roster: Atlanta United, Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, LA Galaxy, Los Angeles Football Club, Minnesota United FC, Nashville SC, New England Revolution, New York City FC, Philadelphia Union, Real Salt Lake, San Jose Earthquakes, Seattle Sounders FC and Sporting Kansas City. The players have ties to 14 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, El Salvador, Hungary, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, United States, Uruguay.

The full roster for the 2021 MLS All-Star Game Presented by Target can be found below.