Carlos Cordeiro worked the backrooms and leveraged his relationships to win support for the presidency.AP Images

When the voting had finished, members of U.S. Soccer had opted for an insider to be their new president.

Carlos Cordeiro, vice president of U.S. Soccer, received more than 68 percent of the votes in the third round of the Feb. 10 election. Seven other candidates had vied to succeed Sunil Gulati.

While Cordeiro begins to plot out how he’ll shape the federation and help the sport grow in the U.S., we look at some of the winners and losers from the election.

Winners

Carlos Cordeiro

In a race where every candidate seemed eager to provide a sound bite, Cordeiro was conspicuously quiet, to the point where he chose to be the only candidate not to make a presentation at the biggest meeting of U.S. Soccer stakeholders every year, the United Soccer Coaches Convention in Philadelphia. Instead, he worked the backrooms, leveraging his relationships and contacts. While he still faces the perception that he’s just an insider, his message of reform through a consensus-based approach — unlike his predecessor — propelled him to victory.

2026 World Cup bid

None of the eight candidates would have spelled doom for the joint bid between the U.S., Canada and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup, which is still favored to win in June versus a work-in-progress bid from Morocco. But on an international soccer landscape that has proved that nothing is certain (see the last time the U.S. was involved in a World Cup bid), Cordeiro was the best choice. He has already been heavily involved with the bid, serves on the CONCACAF board, has been a member of FIFA committees and has a close association with Gulati, who remains one of FIFA’s top power brokers.

MLS

Make no mistake, Kathy Carter was MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s candidate in the election and he heavily backed her. However, of the candidates, Cordeiro was second only to Carter as the most league-friendly in terms of his platform, staying away from ideas like forcing promotion/relegation on the league or tearing up the federation’s deal with Soccer United Marketing. The strong relationship between MLS and U.S. Soccer has been beneficial for both, and it doesn’t appear that Cordeiro has any interest in upsetting that.

MLS is a winner in having a league-friendly victor who has avoided ideas like forcing promotion/relegation on the league.Getty Images

Youth Associations

While the failure of the men’s national team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup was the ultimate flashpoint for this contentious election, the writing had been on the wall — the U.S. men’s team had not qualified for either the 2012 or the 2016 Olympics, highlighting what appeared to be a lost generation of player development. While young players like Christian Pulisic provide hope for the next World Cup cycle, increased emphasis on training and additional funds are needed throughout the soccer pyramid. Cordeiro’s platform focused heavily on such promises, especially efforts to support low-income and diverse areas of the country, which many believe hold high levels of historically untapped soccer talent. Support from those associations provided the bedrock for his victory.

Michael Winograd

Entering a race filled with former national team players, existing U.S. Soccer power brokers and regional organizers, Winograd was the least-known candidate. But over the election, the East Coast corporate lawyer turned the most heads, moving from an unknown to one who many had as high as their second choice, impressing with his demeanor and approach. While his lack of high-level soccer experience and inability to crack into the base that supported Cordeiro and Carter led to his loss, his campaign left many U.S. Soccer voters hoping for him to stay involved. His name will likely be tossed around as a candidate for the vice president position Cordeiro is vacating.

Toss-Up

Sunil Gulati

Despite the high level of vitriol spewed toward Gulati since the defeat of the U.S. men’s team in Trinidad, it’s likely that he could have won re-election if he chose to run. While his professorial tone has certainly rankled many throughout American soccer over the years, his influence on the rise of soccer in this country cannot be understated. As demonstrated in the 2016 FIFA presidential election, in which Gulati played kingmaker for Gianni Infantino, very few in world soccer better understand the power dynamics of the sport. While he’s no longer president, Gulati and his influence won’t be going away any time soon.

Losers

Eric Wynalda

No candidates in the field set themselves farther away from Cordeiro as an instrument of outside change than Wynalda, who most likely would have won the vote if it were held on Twitter. While his harsh rhetoric toward Gulati and somewhat unrealistic ideas on promotion and relegation resonated with that subset of soccer fans, it didn’t translate to the U.S. Soccer voter base. Wynalda should get credit for shaping many of the topics of the election, but what’s next for him is unclear.

Future Outside Candidates

There likely will never be another time in U.S. Soccer history that a candidate running on a change-and-reform platform will have a better chance than this past election. The failure of Wynalda, Kyle Martino and even Carter to usurp the only internal candidate in the race shows the depth at which soccer stakeholders value the level of organizational knowledge and relationships that only a candidate like Cordeiro could have. That Cordeiro also does not support making the position a paid one — which other candidates and outsiders believe would encourage nontraditional or non-soccer leaders to run — it’s hard to imagine a serious outside contender giving Cordeiro trouble in four years, if he chooses to run for re-election.

Soccer United Marketing

U.S. Soccer’s relationship with the marketing and commercial arm of MLS morphed into the election’s most contentious topic, with candidates claiming everything from conflicts of interest to suggesting SUM and MLS owners are profiting at U.S. Soccer’s expense. It likely submarined Carter’s chances, as many painted her experience with the agency as a negative. While there is zero indication of any wrongdoing between the two parties, it is expected that Cordeiro will further address the opaqueness of the relationship, suggesting during the election that he will propose a new board-level commercial committee chair to oversee future commercial negotiations.

Riccardo Silva and Rocco Commisso

The two television magnates are at war with U.S. Soccer, waging multiple courtroom battles against the federation. Commisso has put the blame on Gulati and U.S. Soccer for the seemingly imminent demise of the NASL, in which he and Silva are effectively the last two standing owners. Both strongly backed Wynalda, who mirrored many of the changes in U.S. Soccer that both are either suing or advocating for. While their lawsuits show no sign of ending quickly, Cordeiro’s election does nothing to further their cause.

Promotion/Relegation Advocates

Promotion/relegation remains the most divisive topic in American soccer, with some believing it’s the key to unlocking the U.S. as a soccer power while others view it as a system destabilizer that would slow investment. Cordeiro said nothing on the topic during the campaign, as he declined to comment due to a lawsuit brought forth on the topic by Silva. However, there appears to be no indication that he has any plans to rush the federation into such a debate.