FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A trio of New England Revolution figures are on the ballot for the 2020 National Soccer Hall of Fame, in a trio of different categories.
Steve Ralston is in his final year of eligibility on the Player ballot, Taylor Twellman is a candidate on the Veteran ballot, and Robert Kraft is eligible on the Builder ballot.
Ralston, who was recently named to the Revolution’s All-Time Team as part of the club’s 25th anniversary season, spent nine years in New England (2002-10), registering 42 goals and a club-record 73 assists. That includes a 19-assist season in 2002, which stands as the Revs’ single-season record. Ralston, who also spent six years with the Tampa Bay Mutiny prior to joining the Revs, finished his MLS career with 76 goals and 135 assists, one shy of Landon Donovan’s all-time MLS assist record.
Twellman was also named to the Revolution’s All-Time Team after spending his entire eight-year MLS career in New England, scoring a club-record 101 goals for the club in just 174 appearances. Twellman also added a club-record 10 playoff goals, two of which came in MLS Cup finals, and his 23-goal haul in 2002 still stands as the club’s single-season goal-scoring record.
Kraft has been an investor/operator of the Revolution since the club was founded in 1995, becoming one of the league’s 10 charter clubs. In their 25-year history, all under Kraft, the Revs have reached five MLS Cup finals, while celebrating titles in both the 2007 U.S. Open Cup and SuperLiga 2008.
The voting pool includes all past and present full men's and women's National Team coaches, all active MLS and NWSL head coaches with a minimum of four years of experience as a head coach at the highest level in the United States, MLS and NWSL management representatives, the MLS and NWSL Commissioners/Executive Director, U.S. Soccer CEO/Secretary General, U.S. Soccer President, designated media members and all Hall of Famers.
Each voter can select up to 10 candidates per ballot, and any player appearing on at least 66.7 percent of ballots will earn election.
The Veteran ballot will be voted on by current Hall of Famers who can select up to five Veteran candidates, and the top vote-getter will be elected as long as he or she appears on a minimum of 50 percent of the ballots.
Voting begins on Wednesday, March 18.
