U.S. Soccer's Athlete of the Year have a longer history than any major award in American soccer, and they join the FIFA Players of the Year as the only two awards to honor both the op male and top female in the sport.

The U.S. Soccer Athletes of the Year awards are the oldest and most prestigious awards of their kind, dating back to 1984 for the men and 1985 for the women. The finalists for each award were nominated on the basis of: (a) competing and excelling at the highest level both at the National Team and professional level during the calendar year; (b) exhibiting decorum on and off the field that reflects well on U.S. Soccer; and (c) contributing toward the growth ,development, credibility and popularization of soccer in the USA.

In order to highlight up-and-coming stars within the U.S. Youth national Team system, U.S. Soccer began honoring the young Male and Young Female Athletes of the Year in 1998. In 2004, those respective awards went to U.S. Under-23 MNT and MNT forward Ed Johnson and U.S. Women's National Team and Under-21 forward heather O'Reilly. A player can only earn the youth award one time in their career and is predicated on a player appearing at least once for one of U.S. Soccer's Youth National Teams during the calendar year.

For their excellence at the highest levels of the sport, U.S. Soccer named U.S. Men's national Team forward Landon Donovan as the 2004 Male Athlete of the Year and U.S. Women's National Team forward Abby Wambach as the 2004 Female Athlete of the Year.