After Kim Klyberg stepped down in 2007, Paul Sotoudeh became the Screaming Eagles' third president.  

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Paul grew up in the DC area. He played youth soccer at an early age (6 or 7 years old) but his main childhood sports activities were ice hockey and tennis.

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The North American Soccer League, or NASL (a predecessor to MLS which existed between 1968 and 1984) had a DC team, the Washington Diplomats, between 1974 and 1981, and Paul watched some Diplomats games in their later years. He also watched a PBS show called “Soccer Made in Germany” in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which showed weekly highlights of the German Bundesliga and other European and international games.

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When the Diplomats (and NASL) folded in the early 1980s, the DC area became a soccer desert, and Paul did not follow the sport much. The US did host the 1994 World Cup, but  Paul did not watch any matches, being busy with college at the time.

When DC United (and MLS) started in 1996, Paul was in living in DC. He watched some matches on tape delay that year, but none in person. In 1997 he got on the Screaming Eagles mailing list and went to the old Summers Restaurant to watch an international match (he remembers it as the UK vs Germany). He fell in love with soccer again and became involved with the Screaming Eagles.

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His first duty was helping Dave Lifton write our newsletter, the Nest Liner; Paul had worked on his college newspaper so this was something he could do while going to law school without being present for every event.

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Paul remembers the early SE tailgates, first in Lot 5, then in Lot 8. They were minimal at first, and tailgate equipment was stored at RFK Stadium itself. The tailgates slowly became bigger and more elaborate, especially after moving to the larger Lot 8, and by 2007 equipment was kept in PODS storage units on the edge of Lot 8.

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After 2000, some people left their positions with the club, and Paul became more deeply involved in the club. He took charge of the road trips, which he managed beautifully for 6 years before passing off the reins to Jessica Howard in 2006 to concentrate on other club activities. (Jessica groomed Jimi Butler, who took over road trips in 2009 and still performs that duty (among others) today.)  

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When the club was incorporated in 2002, he joined the board and later became Vice President, serving under Kim Klyberg. Paul handled road trips and game day activities, while Kim handled the administrative duties of the club. Paul stepped up as our third president to replace Kim in 2007.

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Paul served as president for 4 years, before stepping down in early 2011. David Goodwin took over the presidency at that time.

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Paul’s road trips deserve special mention. The trips were completely planned; flights, hotels, and tickets for one price. Unfortunately after a few years people started flaking out on some of the airplane reservations and that part had to be dropped. But I went on my first road trips in those days, and it was so nice to pay one fee and basically go on a soccer tour. Traveling with fellow fans was a huge part of the experience; we could talk soccer for hours and not have to worry about changing the conversation to please others.

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The SEs attended all MLS Cups (whether DC United played or not) through the 2011 Cup, when the game was played at a (hopefully) neutral site determined well in advance. In 2012,  the Cup game location moved to the stadium of the team with the best record. There were many other trips, including one to Mexico City for a US-Mexico World Cup qualifier in 2005.

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Probably the biggest highlight of Paul's road trip tenure was the 2004 MLS Cup, held at what was then Home Depot Center in Carson, CA (home of the LA Galaxy). The SEs had been there the year before and made connections, including a hotel in Redondo Beach near a bar with 700 different beer varieties. Because of the connections already developed, when DC United made the 2004 Cup, Paul was able to get large batches of tickets behind one goal, giving DC a huge fan presence in one place. It definitely didn't hurt DC's performance, and they won the cup over Kansas City 3-2. It was actually my first SE road trip.

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Paul stayed on the SE board for 6 years after stepping down as president, finally leaving in 2017 after taking a new job that required more attention. He still attends the occasional game.

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Paul hopes that the supporters groups will get along better in the future than they have recently, as there have been recent periods of less than stellar relationships between the groups. When asked for advice for the supporter culture for the future, he said, "Build it back better." He used the analogy of wild blueberry pastures in Maine, where the fields are raked and then burned each winter, to kill the weeds and allow the next year's crop to grow better.

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Thanks for all you did, Paul, especially your stellar road trips. You enriched my life for sure.

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