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World Cup-winning goalkeeper Hope Solo is running for president of the US Soccer Federation.

Solo made the announcement on her official Facebook page on Thursday night. She becomes the ninth candidate, and the second woman, to voice interest in running, joining Soccer United marketing president Kathy Carter.

The 36-year-old, arguably the best keeper in US women's national team history, wrote: "The time for talking is over...I know exactly what US Soccer needs to do, I know exactly how to do it, and I possess the fortitude to get it done.

"I have always been willing to sacrifice for what I believe in and I believe there is no greater sacrifice then fighting for equal opportunity, integrity and honesty, especially in an organisation like the USSF that could give so much more to our communities across the nation."

Solo, who earned 202 caps for her country and won the 2015 Women's World Cup plus two Olympic gold medals during her 17-year international career, has not played for the national side since the Rio Olympics, after receiving a six-month ban for calling rivals Sweden "a bunch of cowards".

A couple of months prior to her ban, Solo and four other US women’s national team players filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that sought age equality with their male colleagues. She made it clear in her Facebook post that equal treatment of men’s and women’s teams at all levels would be a major part of her platform.

“This historical, immoral and unconscionable USSF conduct comes at an unacceptable cost: the cost of national pride, the cost of not qualifying for a Men’s World Cup, the cost of not providing the USWNT equal pay and telling the women on the USWNT that they do not deserve to be paid what the men get paid, the cost of actively engaging in gender discrimination, and most glaringly, the cost of overlooking talented young players from diverse socio-economic communities who, if given the opportunity to participate in the system, would develop an enormous, great pool of talent that could eventually populate our USWNT and USMNT’s and lead them to greatness,” she added. 

All candidates have until Tuesday to get the required three nominations from delegates to officially join the field.

They are running to replace current president Sunil Gulati, who announced earlier this week that he will not seek re-election for another term.

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