Cindy Cone wins U.S. Soccer Federation presidential election

Cindy Parlow Cone won reelection as U.S. Soccer Federation president on Saturday at the governing body’s annual general meeting in Atlanta, holding off a spirited and controversial challenge from her predecessor Carlos Cordeiro.

Needing a simple majority of the weighted vote to win, Cone earned a total of 785.12 votes to Cordeiro’s 698.26 — a majority of 52.9%. The vote was tallied among U.S. Soccer’s members, which include state-level youth and adult amateur associations, national team athletes, the professional leagues, and other groups.

It was the smallest margin of victory in the last five contested presidential elections, dating to 1990.

It’s not known which entities voted for which candidates, because the election is by secret ballot. None of the entities from the Philadelphia area, including the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer and New Jersey Youth Soccer organizations, have yet publicly disclosed their preferences.

But it’s never been a secret that Cordeiro’s core support came from state-level youth and adult amateur associations across the country. U.S. Youth Soccer’s board of directors publicly endorsed Cordeiro on Friday night, which sparked a social media backlash among fans — but fans are represented by just one of the 1,500 weighted votes on the board.

Cordeiro, Cone’s predecessor, resigned from the position in March 2020 after U.S. Soccer’s legal team wrote filings with sexist language in the U.S. women’s soccer team’s lawsuit pursuing equal pay.

» READ MORE: U.S. women’s soccer stars win $24 million settlement of equal pay lawsuit

Early last month, it emerged that during Cordeiro’s presidency, U.S. women’s team star Christen Press filed a complaint with the governing body alleging abusive behavior by her club coach at the time, the Chicago Red Stars’ Rory Dames. Cordeiro said he did not know of the complaint when it was filed, citing privacy reasons.

“What happened two years ago was inexcusable, and it was hurtful, especially for the incredible players of our women’s national team,” Cordeiro said in a speech on the meeting floor right before the vote. “I’ve learned, and I’ve committed to doing better — to being a better listener and a better partner.”

Cone, who served as vice president during Cordeiro’s tenure, became president after the resignation, then had to marshal U.S. Soccer through the pandemic and the aforementioned lawsuit. Last month, she struck a $24 million settlement with the players, contingent upon signing new collective bargaining agreements with the women’s and men’s national teams’ players’ unions.

Many fans have lit up social media with outrage over the abuse allegations and pay inequities. Cone was asked what message she’d give them.

“When there’s a problem, especially as horrible as the abuse that has been going on, it’s human nature to want to jump in and do something,” she said. “I felt that as well, and I hear that from other people. But we want to make sure the changes that we are making are the right changes and really impactful changes, and really, we want to do everything that we can to make sure and to prevent this from ever happening again.”

Cone also asked fans to be patient as former deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates continues an investigation into who knew what and when about the alleged abuse.

“I would like the Sally Yates report right now, and the recommendations on our changes, but we are going to have to be more patient,” Cone said. “She has told us, as you all well know, that if she finds something during her investigation and it needs an immediate attention or we need to change something immediately, she will let us know and not wait to the end of her investigation.”

» READ MORE: U.S. Soccer’s new TV deal with Turner Sports will put games on HBO Max, TNT and TBS

Beyond that, Cone spoke about wanting to mend fences with critics in the youth and adult amateur ranks.

“I was an elite athlete, so I take criticism quite well, and I’m always looking to do better,” said the former U.S. women’s team forward, who won the 1999 World Cup and Olympic golds in 1996 and 2004. “Our membership is vast and varied just like our country, and there’s a lot of different ideas out there. And so from that perspective, I need to do a better job of listening and communicating with our membership.”

As the pandemic’s effects lessen, Cone said she can now “shift my focus more to the grassroots efforts and to our broader membership.”

There were also signs that what was expected to be Cone’s strongest caucus, the Athletes’ Council, wasn’t uniformly behind her. The group issued no formal endorsement, and a source with knowledge of the matter told The Inquirer that the council members who also are on U.S. Soccer’s board of directors — thus offering two pathways to vote, of which they pick one — chose to vote through the Athletes’ Council. That diluted each council member’s individual vote strength, lessening the impact of members who voted for Cordeiro.

Seven council members had publicly endorsed Cone, including board members Lori Lindsey and Danielle Slaton. The group also included current U.S. women’s team players Alex Morgan, Becky Sauerbrunn and Lynn Williams; former U.S. player Ali Krieger; and current men’s Paralympic player Sean Boyle.

“I have actually no idea who voted for me or who didn’t vote for me — and I think part of that is good,” Cone said. “I’ll steal a quote from Joe Biden: I’m elected president, so I’m not just president of the people that voted for me, and not the president of people that didn’t vote for me. I’m a president for everyone in U.S. Soccer. So we have work to do.”

A few hours later, Union goalkeeper Matt Freese told The Inquirer that he’s one of a number of Athletes’ Council members who deliberately chose to keep their votes private — and he said plenty of people asked him to reveal his choice. He had praise for Cone, though, for her work with the Athletes’ Council so far and what he hopes is to come.

“Throughout the whole interview process, we were really impressed by her,” Freese said. “We’ve also been impressed by her since she took over … I’m looking forward to getting to know her even better and working together even more.”

» READ MORE: The U.S. women’s soccer team is returning to the Philly area in April