2018 United States Soccer Federation presidential election


The 2018 United States Soccer Federation presidential election was held in February 2018 to determine the next President of the United States Soccer Federation. Having served as President since 2006, incumbent Sunil Gulati decided not to run for re-election, after the United States men's national soccer team failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Background

, the incumbent president of U.S. Soccer, has held the position since he was first elected in 2006. Gulati ran unopposed for election in 2006, and for re-election in 2010 and 2014. On December 4, 2017, Gulati announced that he would not seek another term.
In the months leading up to the election, the U.S. Soccer Federation submitted a joint bid with Canada and Mexico to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In October 2017, the United States men's national soccer team failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, missing the World Cup for the first time since 1986, sparking a major push for reform by supporters.

Format

The election took place on February 10, 2018, at the National Council Meeting during the U.S. Soccer Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida. Candidates are required to pass a background check conducted by the federation and receive three letters of nomination from organization members or an athlete representative on the federation's Board of Directors.
Eligible delegates will be drawn from the following groups:
Votes are divided between the Athletes Council, Youth Council, Adult Council, Professional Council, and other groups.

General election campaign

On December 22, 2017, Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated reported that outgoing U.S. Soccer President, Sunil Gulati and Major League Soccer commissioner, Don Garber were campaigning for, and hosted a campaign dinner for Kathy Carter. This sparked a potential conflict of interest given Carter's current role with Soccer United Marketing, and SUM's relationship with U.S. Soccer and MLS. Carter denied any collusion between her, Gulati and Garber.
Shortly after, Carter received the endorsement from the Eastern New York State Soccer Association and the New Jersey Soccer Association. When asked on Twitter about the decision-making process to endorse Carter, the ENYSSA blocked several accounts on Twitter, only to revert the blocks and claiming their account was "hacked".

Candidates

On December 20, 2017, USSF announced that eight candidates were eligible to stand for election, having met the federation's requirements, 8 of 9 opposed Sunil Gulati. Of the nine declared candidates, only Paul Lapointe failed to qualify for the ballot since he supported Sunil Gulati.

Confirmed

Results

First ballot
Second ballot
Third ballot