Can Landon Donovan Topple Sunil Gulati’s 12-year Run as US Soccer Fed Prez?

us soccer federation

Sports Illustrated recently revealed that Landon Donovan may put in his bid as a US Soccer Federation presidential candidate this year. The due date for nominations to come in is December 12, 2017. Though Donovan has not commented on the possibility of being a candidate for the USSF presidency, many believe that he is more qualified to “handle the soccer aspects of the job” than current president Sunil Gulati.

Gulati has been holding the position for the past 12 years running, and he ran unopposed in all three previous elections for the post. But several eminent personalities in American soccer have been calling for Donovan to run, saying that they are concerned about Gulati handling the technical side, which includes the hiring of head coaches.

Donovan is obviously being backed by some prominent figures in US soccer, and justifiably so. He holds the joint record (along with Clint Dempsey) for the most goals scored in the history of the U.S. men’s soccer team – 57. He is also America’s all-time men’s assist leader, with 58 goals.

Donovan officially quit his career as a US soccer player in 2015, then re-joined in 2016 and quit for good the same year.

Gulati is expected to run for his fourth term despite the team’s failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and has admitted that he had reached out to several people to endorse or nominate him for the position. If he does run and Donovan contests, this will be the first contested elections for this post since 1998.

The 2018 World Cup will be the first that’s going to be played without the United States since 1986. The 2-1 defeat at the hands of Trinidad and Tobago, which was already eliminated and had lost eight of its previous nine games, came as a shock to the entire team, not to mention the whole US soccer-watching audience back home.

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