Ihsan Sacko named USL Championship mid-season player of the year

Phoenix Rising forward Ihsan Sacko was named the USL Championship Mid-Season Player of the Year, capping a first half built on end product, reliability and the ability to swing matches. He had 14 goal contributions in all competitions, with nine goals and five assists, and he topped the league chart at the midpoint with 12 goal contributions in league play, including nine goals and three assists.

The numbers showed more than volume. Five of Sacko’s nine league goals came from the penalty spot, a sign that Phoenix trusted him in the highest-pressure moments. He also delivered four multi-goal-contribution performances and three separate league braces, production that came in bursts and repeatedly changed the shape of games rather than appearing in empty stretches.

Sacko’s most recent surge came in Phoenix’s 4-3 loss to Oakland Roots SC on June 20, when he posted a goal and an assist in a seven-goal second half after Rising had fallen behind 2-0. That outing earned him a place on the USL Championship Team of the Week 16 and marked his fourth multi-goal-contribution match of the 2026 season. Earlier, on April 18, he scored a brace in a 3-0 win over Miami FC, a performance that had him sitting second in the league scoring race at the time.

Head coach Pa-Modou Kah summed up the progress plainly: Sacko has been “phenomenal,” and he “now understands what the USL requires.” That evolution matters in a 25-team league split into Eastern and Western Conferences, where consistency across a spring-to-fall schedule is often harder to sustain than a hot month. Phoenix Rising signed Sacko on January 24, 2025, and the French attacker has translated that move into a sustained run of influence after previous spells in France, Italy and Switzerland.

Phoenix Rising won the 2023 USL Championship title, and Sacko’s scoring has given the club a clear centerpiece as it pushes into the second half of the season. With Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC due in Phoenix on July 4, the Mid-Season Player of the Year now sets the pace for both the club’s attack and the league’s second-half MVP race.