The United States Soccer Federation president resigned Thursday, a day after the U.S. womenās soccer team protested its parent organization.
USSF president Carlos Cordeiro tweeted a statement Thursday evening, announcing that he was stepping away immediately.
āIt has been an incredible privilege to serve our Federation for the past 13 years as a volunteer,ā Cordeiro said, noting that former vice president Cindy Parlow Cone will take over as president. āIām proud of the progress that we have made together over the past two years.
āMy one and only mission has always been to do what is best for our Federation, and it has become clear to me that what is best right now is a new direction.ā
Cordeiroās resignation came a day after the U.S. womenās national team players wore their warm-up jerseys inside out prior to winning the SheBelieves Cup with Wednesdayās 3-1 win over Japan. According to The Associated Press, the protest was a statement on the debate over the teamās 2019 gender discrimination lawsuit against the USSF, which is scheduled to go to trial on May 5.
āWe just decided today as a group, and everybody was on board with it,ā United States forward Carli Lloyd said. āI think it just was a powerful message, without having to really send a message. Iām really proud of this group because this is not an easy thing. Like I said, I donāt want to be in this position, but weāre here and itās just got to be better.ā
The 28 plaintiffs filed a lawsuit accusing the USSF of gender discrimination and low pay compared to the U.S. menās soccer team. The USSF has pushed back, alleging that they offered equal pay and that they canāt be expected to make up the prize money gap that exists within FIFA.
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The USSF ramped up the ill will with Mondayās court filing, which said that the U.S. menās soccer team has āmore responsibilityā and a āhigher level of skillā than their counterparts on the womenās team.
āA reasonable juror could conclude that the job MNT player requires materially different skill and more responsibility than Plaintiffās job does, while also taking place under materially different working conditions,ā the filing said, according to CNN.
USSF president Carlos Cordeiro issued an apology on Wednesday, according to the AP.
āOn behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this weekās court filing, which did not reflect the values of our federation or our tremendous admiration of our womenās national team,ā Cordeiroās statement said of the four-time World Cup champion U.S. womenās team. āOur WNT players are incredibly talented and work tirelessly, as they have demonstrated time and again from their Olympic gold medals to their World Cup titles.ā
Cordeiro also addressed the comments regarding skill during his resignation letter.
āThe arguments and language contained in this weekās legal filing caused great offense and pain, especially to our extraordinary Womenās National Team players who deserve better,ā Cordeiro said. āIt was unacceptable and inexcusable. I did not have the opportunity to fully review the filing in its entirety before it was submitted, and I take responsibility for not doing so. Had I done so, I would have objected to language that did not reflect my personal admiration for our womenās players or our values as an organization.ā