Carlos Cordeiro, the president of the United States Soccer Federation, resigned Thursday night, three days after the federation argued in legal filings that “indisputable science” proved that the players on its World Cup-winning women’s national team were inferior to men.

Facing on-field protests by members of the women’s team, withering criticism from major U.S. Soccer sponsors and public condemnation by members of the organization’s board of directors, Cordeiro found his position untenable.

“My one and only mission has always been to do what is best for our Federation, and it has become clear to me that what is best right now is a new direction,” he wrote in a statement announcing his resignation.