USOC: Hold U.S. Soccer Accountable

By | 2018-04-14T00:30:13+00:00 30 January 2018|Blog, News, President|13 Comments

I joined the USSF Presidential race because I could no longer watch the United States Soccer Federation sidestep its responsibility to the people it was created to serve.  As a player, I experienced the USSF’s ‘profit before progress’ approach for more than twenty years, and during this campaign, I have spent countless hours talking to people at every level of the sport who all say the same thing: the Federation has failed them.

The campaign has also made me acutely aware that the USSF’s conflicts of interests and other governance transgressions are so alarming that we can’t wait for the results of the Presidential election to take action.

U.S. Soccer has become blinded to its fundamental obligation to develop soccer in America. As our National Governing Body, the USSF is in blatant violation of the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act.

Today, I have called upon the United States Olympic Committee to hold U.S. Soccer accountable with the submission of a formal complaint under Section 220527 of the Stevens Act.

Because of the power, prestige, status and money flowing from the Federation’s alliance with Major League Soccer and Soccer United Marketing, the USSF’s priority has become protecting and building the MLS, at the expense of our youth, the women’s game and our place in the global game.

The Federation seems to believe that success should be judged not by how well amateur, youth, women’s and non-MLS men’s professional soccer are doing, but how well MLS is performing and how much money the Federation’s partnership with SUM is generating.

The Federation has made the world’s game inaccessible to so many here in America. In our current system, we are letting kids fall through the cracks, excluding so many from our vast talent pool and making both playing and coaching wildly unaffordable. In today’s system, I would have been missed. I would not have had the opportunity to pursue my dreams.

What have we become? Our country was built on hope and opportunity.  Yet, through our failed system, we are turning our backs on those who can help us achieve the success that we all want.

It has also become even more apparent that the Federation has not only been deaf to calls for reform, but is actively working against them.  Why else would the Federation’s current President and the most powerful member of its Board of Directors have put their support behind Kathy Carter, who has been employed by MLS or SUM in various capacities since MLS’s founding in 1995?

This is just one of many questions USSF must answer to, along with others surrounding the brazen and unchecked conflicts of interest the commercial partnership with SUM has created.

My bid for the Presidency is built on a pledge to fight for the betterment of the game with the same commitment, tenacity and willingness to go against the grain that made me the best goalkeeper in the world.  This action is a necessary step in keeping that pledge.

I encourage all of you to read the complete document submitted to the USOC. It contains important information about issues that many voters and members of the soccer community are likely not aware of, yet are issues that have a profound impact on all of us.

Let’s take back our sport.

Download the full complaint here.

13 Comments

  1. Virgil Caine January 30, 2018 at 6:12 pm - Reply

    An absolute warrior for women’s rights! Keep fighting the fight, Hope!

  2. Janine January 30, 2018 at 6:44 pm - Reply

    Keep calling them out, Hope ! We are behind you!

  3. Donna J Housley January 30, 2018 at 6:48 pm - Reply

    So ! #takebackourgame

  4. Elaine Peplow, MD January 30, 2018 at 7:00 pm - Reply

    Hope, you truly are an inspiration!! We are behind you!!!

  5. Joseph January 30, 2018 at 7:13 pm - Reply

    Much of American society is premised on the idea of profit over people, and it’s ruined so many things. I’m happy to see you fighting on behalf of the ideals of competition and development of talent.

  6. Michael Mast January 30, 2018 at 7:39 pm - Reply

    Thank you for your relentless pressure on all that is wrong with USSF.

  7. Larry Burns January 30, 2018 at 9:56 pm - Reply

    So after reading the entire document it has a remarkable way of capturing and displaying the consistent and institutional bias inherent in todays structure. It also avoid assigning “evil intent” to people’s actions – it merely points out the reality and asks the questions – to which certain answers are obvious. A microcosm of all that is out of balance in the United States in 2017 – even the USSF has been “financialized” Sigh.

  8. Roberto Farino January 30, 2018 at 11:05 pm - Reply

    Thanks Hope. This complaint is right on the button regarding the issues at the USSF and USSoccer. The USSF and USSoccer are a mess and need to be reformed. Good Luck in your efforts to do just that.

  9. Mud Green January 31, 2018 at 2:47 am - Reply

    Revolutionary. This is how leaders are supposed to speak. A few more Hope Solos in the higher ranks of the world and we might have a fighting chance. Power to the people!

  10. Karen Lutzmann Mariscal January 31, 2018 at 3:32 am - Reply

    Birth year age groups to benefit the .5% of players who compete internationally while hurting the other 99.5%.

    Stay to Play is BS.

    USSF instituting small sided games as if USYS hasnt already instituted them over a decade ago.

    DA teams that prohibit high school play is crap.

    DA, ODP, ECNL, NPL…everyone is so spread out I guess they thought adding another was a good idea as if the super clubs really needed any more help.

    Soccer Clubs with MLS names, Euro names…cities own the fields yet we been ripping the town names off our uniforms and clubhouses. If I were in city government, I’d put the hammer down.

    I’m in Florida, let’s picket that damn meeting with Hope Solo signs.

    How can I find out who my state association will be voting for short of calling them…ugh.

    I could go on…

  11. Zombastian January 31, 2018 at 5:53 am - Reply

    Sounds like how Trump & GOP failed the US

  12. vish February 17, 2018 at 3:13 am - Reply

    all the best hope. we hope you win

  13. ROBERT OZINGA March 4, 2018 at 7:00 pm - Reply

    AMERICA NEEDS MORE PEOPLE LIKE SOLO. NOT JUST ON SPORTS BUT ALL AROUND. WE HAVE BECOME A COUNTRY WHERE DEMOCRACY HAS BECOME A MODIFIED DICTATORSHIP. SOON, “WE THE PEOPLE”, WILL NO LONGER BE PART OF OUR CONSTITUTION.

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