The United States Soccer Federation voted Saturday to name vice president Carlos Cordeiro its new president. Cordeiro succeeds Sunil Gulati, who announced he would not run for reelection after the USMNT’s brutal, humiliating failure in World Cup qualifying.
Cordeiro was reportedly elected on the third round of voting, after leading each round by increasing margins. Cordeiro’s ultimate ascent was apparently made possible by the withdrawals of candidates Paul Caligiuri, Michael Winograd, and Steven Gans. Per Kevin Draper of the New York Times:
Cordeiro, a well-connected vice president of the federation, has been a board member of the organization since 2007, serving on a variety of committees. A former Goldman Sachs banker, he is a longtime associate of Gulati, though he took pains during the campaign to stress the areas on which the men disagreed.
In a speech before the voting, Cordeiro made the case that he has both the experience necessary to run the organization and the independence to deliver the change clearly desired by U.S. Soccer members. “Today the status quo is unacceptable,” he said. “U.S. Soccer needs to change. Transformational change. The vote comes down to one simple question: Who can actually deliver that change.”