Friday Newsletter: Cindy Parlow Cone Has Become a Historic Figure in American Soccer

The unlikely U.S. Soccer president has overseen a landmark equal-pay agreement and come away victorious in a battle against the FIFA and CONCACAF presidents—and that's just in 2022

Parlow Cone commemorated Equal Pay Day during Women’s History Month with President Biden in March (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

If you had asked me during the summer of 1999 which of the famed USWNT ‘99ers would go on to become U.S. Soccer president, Cindy Parlow Cone would not have been my first answer—or the second or the third, either. The most obvious responses would have been Julie Foudy, the firebrand who loved speaking truth to power, and Carla Overbeck, the team captain who commanded universal respect.

Parlow Cone was quiet in those days, a 21-year-old forward during that ‘99 run who scored a big goal in the World Cup semifinal win over Brazil. Even when she grew older as a player, she continued to win (including an Olympic gold medal in 2004) but didn’t give off many vibes that showed an interest in running things away from the field. Yes, she served on U.S. Soccer’s Athletes Council and several other committees, but she didn’t make headlines in those roles.

Which is to say: Parlow Cone is an unlikely sports politician. And yet, as has become clear in 2022, she has now turned into a transformative figure in the history of soccer in the United States. 

But there are real worries in U.S. soccer circles that FIFA and Infantino will try to install Cordeiro as the person in charge of World Cup 2026. Cordeiro was seen with Infantino on his multi-city visit to the U.S. earlier this month, which included a provocative interview with Infantino at the Milken Institute global conference in California. As part of the interview, the FIFA president delivered a shot across the bow of Garber and MLS owners.

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On Thursday, U.S. Soccer announced milestone collective bargaining agreements with the USWNT and USMNT players unions in which there is legitimate equal pay, including a landmark advance: The U.S. men and women will share the exact same amount of pooled World Cup prize money. Other national federations had proclaimed “equal pay,” but it was only an equal percentage of FIFA prize money (which is dramatically lower for women than for men).

It was Parlow Cone who oversaw the $24 million settlement with the USWNT players in February and then stated publicly that U.S. Soccer would not agree to any new CBAs that did not include those equal-prize money provisions, putting pressure on all sides to get it done. And it was Parlow Cone—an unpaid volunteer, remember—who accomplished what all her male predecessors as federation president could not.

“This would not have happened but for Cindy,” someone who was involved in the negotiating process told me this week. “She has crushed it on every level. As a f---ing volunteer.”

During a U.S. Soccer conference call on Thursday, one person on the line said of Parlow Cone: “She’s turned out to be the woman who fixed everything the old boys broke.”

Make no mistake, the “old boy” culture inside U.S. Soccer’s membership has been a strong one. Back in December 2017 during the contentious presidential election that Parlow Cone wasn’t part of, the influential president of the Eastern New York State Soccer Association talked to me for 30 minutes about female candidate Kathy Carter without mentioning her name once and called her a “girl” seven times.

What’s more, Parlow Cone has had to take on another powerful all-male group this year when she was opposed in the U.S. Soccer presidential election by Carlos Cordeiro—the former federation president who resigned amid massive public and sponsor backlash in March 2020 to a federation legal filing arguing that women’s players were inherently inferior to men’s. 

Cordeiro was clearly the preferred USSF presidential candidate of two other powerful men: FIFA president Gianni Infantino and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani. Last September, Infantino named Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs executive, an unpaid senior advisor to FIFA for global strategy and governance.

Parlow Cone faced a daunting challenge in the election: Multiple sources tell me that Infantino and Montagliani tried to influence the election in Cordeiro’s favor, in part by lobbying MLS and NFL owners to get votes from the Pro Council. (MLS commissioner Don Garber is a representative of the Pro Council on U.S. Soccer’s board of directors). 

Garber and the Pro Council held firm, though, and their support of Parlow Cone helped push her over the line, beating Cordeiro by a narrow weighted-vote margin of 52.9% to 47.1%. 

In other words, Parlow Cone took on the FIFA and CONCACAF presidents, not just Cordeiro, and still won. That’s the kind of stuff that historic figures pull off. 

For what it’s worth, Infantino is said to be upset with Garber for not helping him in the U.S. Soccer election. And there remain distinct concerns about the relationship between FIFA and U.S. Soccer ahead of the U.S. co-hosting World Cup 2026. Instead of creating a local organizing committee (LOC), as has always been done for previous World Cups, FIFA is running the ‘26 organization on its own from Zürich to retain more of the World Cup revenues. 

But there are real worries in U.S. soccer circles that FIFA and Infantino will try to install Cordeiro as the person in charge of World Cup 2026. Cordeiro was seen with Infantino on his multi-city visit to the U.S. earlier this month, which included a provocative interview with Infantino at the Milken Institute global conference in California. As part of the interview, the FIFA president delivered a shot across the bow of Garber and MLS owners.

Infantino said: “When I speak to soccer club owners in America about what their experience is, they all tell me … and it's quite interesting because they are all big business people, most of them. And the answer I get by them is, ‘Well, you know, soccer is growing, and at least we are not losing money in soccer as was the case in the ‘70s or ‘80s.’ And my answer to them is, ‘Sorry, but you know, with all due respect, you are the United States of America. If the philosophy of this country would have been At least we don't lose money, you would never have become the United States of America.’”

He went on: “This country is about investing and it's about growing. And I don't understand why people in this country cannot have and do not have the ambition as the No. 1 country in the world in terms of economy, in terms of power, in terms of sports as well, that they are satisfied, that you are satisfied with being No. 30 in the No. 1 sport in the world. You must have the ambition to be No. 1 in the No. 1 sport in the world. Now what do you have to change for this to happen? You have to bring here the best players. You have to create a top event because obviously, the Americans, as I start knowing you a little bit with all my travels here, you want to see the best, but you need to work to get the best like in every other business.”

The relationship between U.S. Soccer and FIFA is a fascinating one right now. FIFA needs the U.S. because it needs to make money, and the World Cup is taking place here in 2026. Infantino is said to be considering moving to New York City after the World Cup in Qatar, where he is living right now, and FIFA is considering relocating its commercial operations to the United States.

Infantino has been traveling around the U.S. recently as FIFA nears an announcement on June 16 of which cities will host World Cup 2026 games. The recent word is that SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles area is the favorite to host the opening game (with the USMNT in it) and that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is pushing FIFA to get the final for Dallas instead of odds-on favorite MetLife Stadium outside New York City. (The funny thing is the announcement of which cities get the biggest games isn’t expected until later on, perhaps next year.)

Another possibility I’m hearing is that Edmonton may not get games after all, leaving Canada with just Toronto and Vancouver, which might lead to an 11th U.S. city being chosen instead.

Meanwhile, U.S. Soccer isn’t entirely sure where it will fit in the World Cup 2026 organization since there won’t be an LOC for the first time. The USSF has shown in the past that it can oversee the massive logistics of major global tournament—witness the 2016 Copa América Centenario—and so far, at least, FIFA’s foot-dragging on the 2026 city bidding process has shown an organization that is struggling to get things done with its new responsibilities. 

There is a real concern, too, that Infantino’s FIFA is overreaching, as seen in its recent decision to split with EA Sports despite the success of its eponymous video game.

And let’s face it: There’s some tension between U.S. Soccer and FIFA right now after Parlow Cone’s election, and there would be much more if Cordeiro is named the head of World Cup organizing for 2026. 

But here’s the thing: Parlow Cone has now shown herself to be a genuinely major figure on the international stage. She did something her male predecessors couldn’t and spearheaded a historic equal-pay agreement that will have reverberations outside soccer and globally as well. She took on a group of men that included the FIFA and CONCACAF presidents and won. And she did it as an unpaid volunteer.

That’s just in 2022. What she does in the next four years will be fascinating to watch.