The President of the United States Soccer Federation for 12 years, the longest tenure of any of the more than 25 USSF presidents.
Gulati was elected President of the USSF in 2006, and then was re-elected in 2010 and 2014. In 2018, he chose not to run for a fourth term. During Gulati’s time as USSF president, the U.S. Women’s national team won the 2015 Women’s World Cup and two Olympic championships, and the U.S. men’s national team reached the final of the 2009 Confederations Cup and won the CONCACAF Gold Cup three times.
Gulati had served in a number of significant positions in American soccer before becoming USSF president. In the 1980s, under USSF president Werner Fricker, he was chairman of the USSF’s International Games Committee, National Teams Committee and Technical Committee, and was a member of the bid committee that in 1988 gained the right to host the 1994 World Cup for the United States. He then was Executive Vice President of the Organizing Committee of the 1994 World Cup, and from 1995 to 1999 was Deputy Commissioner of Major League Soccer. In 2000, he was elected Executive Vice President of the USSF, and held that position until he was elected president six years later.
In 2013, Gulati was elected to the Executive Committee of FIFA, becoming only the third American ever to be a member of that committee. During his time on the FIFA Exco, he has been a member of several committees, including the Confederations Cup Committee, the Youth Competitions Committee and the Independent Governance Committee.
Inducted in 2019.
