Carlos Cordeiro wants his old job back. Cordeiro announced he will run for U.S. Soccer president less than two years after resigning due to a misogynistic legal filing.
Cordeiro made the announcement via his website on Wednesday. He said he did a “great deal of thought and reflection” before deciding to run for his old position.
Upon a Tuesday report that he planned to run again, USWNT star Megan Rapinoe blasted Cordeiro on Twitter for “caveman levels of misogyny.”
Cordeiro admitted he did not give enough thought to USWNT’s attempt to receive equal pay during his first run as U.S. Soccer president. Those failures led to Cordeiro ignoring the misogynistic legal filing that led his resignation.
Cordeiro claimed he would have objected to the legal filing if he knew the language it used.
When those layers of oversight failed, it resulted in the inexcusable and offensive legal filing that caused so much pain, especially for our incredible women’s players. Had I seen that language, I would have objected and never allowed it to be submitted as written. Given the severity of what happened, words of apology were clearly not enough. As the president of our Federation, I felt it was important to take responsibility. I believe that resigning was in the best interests of U.S. Soccer at that moment, and we are all indebted to Cindy Parlow Cone for stepping up to serve at a challenging time.
Cordeiro said he would “listen more closely” to the USWNT if he is elected as U.S. Soccer president a second time.
Carlos Cordeiro promises equal pay if elected again
Cordeiro’s platform involves four major talking points, one of which is “ensuring equal pay.” Cordeiro said he will make it a priority to settle with the USWNT. He added he will, “Urge FIFA to reduce, if not eliminate, the discrepancy in prize money between future Men’s and Women’s World Cups and work with our men’s and women’s teams to equalize future prize money.” Cordeiro feels he has a personal responsibility to resolve this issue given what led to his resignation.
A legal filing in 2020 resulted in Cordeiro’s resignation. The filing argued the USWNT had less “ability” than the men’s team due to their gender. A number of prominent former women’s players, including Abby Wambach and Heather O’Reilly, called for Cordeiro’s resignation. He stepped down a few days after the filing.
