U.S. Soccer presidential election: Candidates take on key youth issues at Chicago event

U.S. Club Soccer hosted a four-hour forum for U.S. Soccer presidential candidates to discuss key youth issues with its board of directors.

Four candidates attended the forum in Chicago -- Paul Caligiuri, Kyle Martino, Michael Winograd and Eric Wynalda -- and a fifth, Steve Gans, participated by telephone.



The discussion touched on the role of the federation in youth soccer, its operation of the Development Academy, accessibility of youth coaches to coaching programs, allocation of federation surpluses, solidarity payments and value of high school soccer. There were questions to the candidates about whether the job of U.S. Soccer president should be a paid position and how they planned on handling the role of president.

Of note, U.S. Club Soccer CEO and executive director Kevin Payne, who moderated the event, asked in his final multi-part question whether the candidates had received the three letters of endorsement from member organizations they need by Dec. 12 to be eligible for the election slated for Feb. 10 in Orlando, Fla., during U.S. Soccer's AGM.

Gans and Wynalda said they had. Martino said he had been offered and accepted two endorsements. Caligiuri said he had not yet officially declared his candidacy while Winograd did not respond.

Here are a few excerpts reflecting the views of the candidates on some key issues:









3 comments about "U.S. Soccer presidential election: Candidates take on key youth issues at Chicago event".
  1. R2 Dad, November 29, 2017 at 6:47 a.m.

    Where is Sunil? Isn't it rude to be late to your own party? At this point should we just assume he isn't running? Isn't this guy supposed to be a leader? He's not running for re-election in Chicago--why the intrigue?

  2. Goal Goal, November 29, 2017 at 4:25 p.m.

    I like Gans and Pauls comments.  The DA is a showcase for the organization not for the players or the clubs and the games are almost chorographed all across the country.   US should have never stuck their paws into the HS programs.  I know that there are many on here who will say HS soccer is bad.  But there are many parts of this country where HS coaches are some of the best out there and instead of trying to separate them from DA they should be spending some time trying to bring them into the DA program.  The DA program is out of hand and need to be corrected quickly.

  3. Bob Ashpole replied, November 30, 2017 at 1:15 a.m.

    I liked Caligiuri's opening comments. No surprise that the candidates criticized the DA program in front of a US Club Soccer forum. 

    I think USSF has a good group of candidates to pick from. What we don't need is a fresh coat of paint on the same old house. We need to look forward, not backwards.

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