US Soccer CEO: Will Wilson hired by federation

The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Monday that Will Wilson will be its new CEO, the organization’s most important daily position, finally ending a search process to replace Dan Flynn that had taken many months longer than expected.

Wilson, 52, comes to U.S. Soccer from the Wasserman sports agency, where he was an executive vice-president and co-head of football for the last eight years. He’s an uncle of Andrew Luck, whom he signed as Wasserman’s first American football client in 2012.

Wilson also spent four years as an executive with Soccer United Marketing and Major League Soccer managing all their international business relationships. The past connection to SUM, which has a deep business relationship with U.S. Soccer, will raise concerns from some critics who have said the federation is too close to a company that financially benefits the owners of MLS. But that didn’t appear to be a big concern for the U.S. Soccer board of directors, which gave Wilson its unanimous approval in a vote on Sunday. (Carlos Cordeiro remains on the board as the immediate past president after recently resigning as U.S. Soccer president following criticism over a federation legal strategy against USWNT players that argued women inherently had less skill, ability and responsibility than men.)