Hope Solo running for US Soccer president

Former US goalie makes Facebook announcement

Hope Solo announced Thursday that she is running for U.S. Soccer Federation president.

The former U.S. women's national team goalkeeper made the announcement with a lengthy post on her official Facebook page.

In doing so, Solo laid out four core principles of her campaign as well as described some of the financial struggles her family went through in order for her to play youth soccer.

"My whole life I knew that I was one of the few lucky kids living by the grace of others," she wrote. "I had so much support around me, but the reality was never lost on me. I very easily could have been just another kid lost to the system."

She went on to criticize U.S. Soccer for putting "profit before progress."

"The heart of what USSF must represent is the development of youth soccer in America," she said.

Solo said she will campaign on creating a winning culture, fighting for equality and women's issues, making the game accessible to all, and engendering transparency in the organization.

ESPN reported that a spokesperson for Solo confirmed that she has the required three nomination letters from voting members to officially enter the race.

She joins an already crowded field to replace current president Sunil Gulati, who announced earlier this month that he will not seek re-election. Among those running in the Feb. 10 vote are former players Paul Caligiuri, Kyle Martino and Eric Wynalda, current USSF vice president Carlos Cordeiro, soccer executive Kathy Carter, attorneys Steve Gans and Mike Winograd and soccer entrepreneur Paul Lapointe.

Solo made 202 appearances for the U.S. women's national team in her career, winning Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012. She also was part of the U.S. team that won the Women's World Cup in 2015.

She made almost as much news off the pitch, some from making a stand with her teammates for pay equal to their male colleagues and more notoriously for her 2014 arrest on a charge of domestic violence involving her half-sister and nephew.

She's also twice been suspended from the national team. First in 2015 when her husband, ex-NFL player Jerramy Stevens, was arrested for driving a U.S. team van while under the influence with Solo as a passenger and in 2016 when she called the Swedish team "a bunch of cowards" after the Swedes eliminated the U.S. in the Olympic quarterfinals in Rio.