(Reuters) -Cindy Parlow Cone won re-election as U.S. Soccer Federation president on Saturday in a narrow vote over her predecessor and said she has plenty of work left to do after “righting the ship” during her first two years in the position.
Parlow Cone secured 52.9% of the weighted vote taken by the federation’s membership during their annual general meeting, earning 785.12 of the votes compared to the 698.26 that went to Carlos Cordeiro.
“I am really proud of what I’ve done in my first two years as president, I think we’ve accomplished a lot, but there is a lot more left to do,” Parlow Cone told reporters after being elected to a four-year term as president.
Former national team player Parlow Cone had served as vice president of the national governing body until taking over the top job in 2020 when Cordeiro resigned under pressure after a legal filing that was widely condemned as misogynistic.
Parlow Cone, the first female U.S. Soccer president, led the federation through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and brought in a new leadership and legal team.
In February, Parlow Cone appeared to make a strong case for re-election after U.S. Soccer and the women’s national team agreed to resolve a years-long dispute over equal pay.
But Parlow Cone, who was endorsed by the women’s national team on Friday, acknowledged that she has work to do, including at the grassroots level, something that was evident as Cordeiro had the backing of U.S. Youth Soccer.
“Our membership is vast and varied just like our country and there are 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,” said Parlow Cone.
“My first couple years were really looking to make sure that the ship didn’t sink because I came into a really challenging situation and had to right the ship and now we are sailing in a good direction.
“Now it allows me to shift my focus more to the grassroots efforts and to our broader membership … and seeing what we can do as federation to help all aspects of our game grow.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Additional reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by William Maclean and Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
