The Man of the Match voting is used to determine the Man of the Year Award.  A player receives 3 points for first place votes, 2 points for second place votes, and 1 point for third place votes. The player who receives the most points for the game receives 3 points toward the Man of the Year vote and the second and third highest players receive 2 and 1 points respectively.  

When it is awarded:

The award is traditionally presented on the pitch at halftime at the last home game of the season. 

The Curse of Man of the Year?:

We once thought that the MOTY had a jinx attached to it...every player who had won the award had been waived or traded prior to the following season.  Rusty Pierce put a hole in that theory, but Catê patched it up - temporarily.  Then came Twellman.  Taylor won the award in 2002 and put the last nail in the coffin when he won it again in 2003.

These are the previous winners of the Midnight Riders Man of the Year award:

2005 Clint Dempsey	2004 Taylor Twellman	2003 Taylor Twellman	2002 Taylor Twellman	2001 Marco Antonio Lemes Tozze (Catê)
2000 Rusty Pierce	1999 Dan Calichman	1998 Edwin Gorter	1997 Walter Zenga	1996 Alberto "Beto" Naveda