{"id":445,"date":"2025-12-29T19:49:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T19:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/?p=445"},"modified":"2025-12-29T19:49:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T19:49:54","slug":"maria-soto-consolidates-her-regional-impact-after-being-named-sports-executive-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/news\/maria-soto-consolidates-her-regional-impact-after-being-named-sports-executive-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Mar\u00eda Soto Consolidates Her Regional Impact After Being Named Sports Executive of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The sports leadership of Mar\u00eda Soto was recognized after she was named Sports Executive of the Year 2025 by the Venezuelan Sports Journalists Circle (CPD), an honor that highlights her management, strategic vision, and sustained contribution to the development of sport in Venezuela and across the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2022, Mar\u00eda Soto has served as President of the Venezuelan Olympic Committee (COV), becoming the first woman to lead the national Olympic movement\u2014an historic milestone that marked a new era of modernization, institutional strengthening, and international projection for Venezuelan Olympism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her influence extends beyond the national stage. Soto is part of the region\u2019s sports leadership as Third Vice President of Centro Caribe Sports, an organization from which she actively contributes to the coordination of the Central American and Caribbean sports movement, promoting policies of integration, development, and cooperation among member countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the most significant achievements of her administration has been the revitalization of Venezuelan softball, a discipline that made a strong return to the international stage. Under her leadership, the Venezuelan Softball Federation was awarded Sports Organization of the Year after achieving historic results:<br>the men\u2019s team was crowned world champion and ranked second in the world, while the women\u2019s national team captured the Pan American title, reaffirming the country\u2019s competitive growth in both categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Upon receiving the award, Mar\u00eda Soto stated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is an award for work carried out with passion and dedication, alongside a group of people who have done a great deal within the federation, the committee, and above all, within the coaching staff of each national team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This recognition further reinforces Mar\u00eda Soto\u2019s legacy, as her career continues to evolve from excellence as an athlete to high-impact leadership as a sports executive. Her management is distinguished by the integration of tangible results, strategic vision, and a strong commitment to Olympic values, while also promoting a model of sustainable sports development with long-term impact at both the national and regional levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Centro Caribe Sports Press \u2013 December 29, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"616\" src=\"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2-1024x616.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2-1024x616.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2-768x462.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2-1200x722.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/3.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/centrocaribesports.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/3-1200x900.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sports leadership of Mar\u00eda Soto was recognized after she was named Sports Executive of the Year 2025 by the Venezuelan Sports Journalists Circle (CPD), an honor that highlights her management, strategic vision, and sustained contribution to the development of sport in Venezuela and across the region. Since 2022, Mar\u00eda Soto has served as President [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24,33,7,23,12,54],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-athletes","tag-ccs","tag-centro-caribe-sports","tag-coi","tag-olympic-games","tag-venezuela"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mar\u00eda Soto Consolidates Her Regional Impact After Being Named Sports Executive of the Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mar\u00eda Soto Consolidates Her Regional Impact After Being Named Sports Executive of the Year\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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