# National Independent Soccer Association

The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is previously in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a winter break but have switched to spring-to-fall which is more common in the United States.

## History
### League beginnings

On June 6, 2017, it was announced that the newly formed National Independent Soccer Association would begin play in 2018 targeting an initial 8 to 10 teams, later revised to 8 to 12 teams. Initially, the league outlined plans to introduce a promotion/relegation system, once they reach their goal of 24 teams, the first in US professional soccer and in doing so act as a feeder league to the North American Soccer League (NASL); however, the NASL ceased operations prior to those plans being implemented.
On February 13, 2018, NISA co-founder Jack Cummins died suddenly. On May 17, 2018, NISA co-founder Peter Wilt left the NISA to help start up Forward Madison FC in Madison, Wisconsin in USL League One. A committee of club owners was formed to elect new leadership within the organization.

### Reorganization and start of play

On August 31, 2018, NISA filed an application with the United States Soccer Federation for sanctioning as a men's professional league, playing at the third division. On February 16, 2019, NISA was provisionally sanctioned as a Division III league by the United States Soccer Federation. In May 2019, it was announced that clubs were not happy with the silence from the league and that Bob Watkins was no longer the President of NISA and that John Prutch had taken the helm as commissioner. During this same timeframe, the league's start date was pushed back from August 2019 to a targeted September start date.
On June 10, 2019, it became known that both Miami FC and California United Strikers FC were approved at the recent board of governors meeting to join NISA, while the previously identified club in Central Florida would play in Baton Rouge, Louisiana instead of Daytona Beach, Florida. However, it was unclear whether either of the teams would start before the league's September start date. On June 27, 2019, it was announced that Oakland Roots SC would have their inaugural season with the league in the spring season, rather than the previously announced NPSL Founders Cup. On August 15, 2019, the league officially announced the addition of Oakland Roots for the 2019 season and Chattanooga FC, Detroit City FC, and Michigan Stars FC for early 2020.
The inaugural season began on August 31, 2019, with a 3–3 draw for Oakland Roots SC and California United Strikers FC in Oakland. On April 27, 2020, following previous postponements, the remainder of the 2019–20 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 10, 2020, the league announced that one of the original co-founders of the league, Peter Wilt, would be rejoining the league in a club operations capacity by attempting to establish a club in Chicago. On September 15, 2020, one of the founding teams, Oakland Roots, announced that they were leaving the league to join the USL Championship, a league in the second division of professional soccer.

### Development of the amateur and semi-professional game

On April 27, 2020, NISA revealed a new tournament called the NISA Independent Cup that would have member teams face off against high quality amateur and independent professional sides in a regional format. The tournament and 15 participating teams were announced on July 1.
NISA announced its first affiliation agreement with the Gulf Coast Premier League, a USASA affiliated amateur league based in the gulf coast of the United States, on August 13, 2020. The partnership is set to provide a pathway to professional status for both clubs and players, while also allowing two GCPL teams to qualify for future editions of the Independent Cup based on league play. This was expanded to include the Midwest Premier League and Eastern Premier Soccer League on September 3 and 4, 2020, respectively. On November 23, NISA announced a fourth agreement with the Mountain Premier League.
On September 17, 2020, the league announced that it was establishing a full-year amateur league, the NISA Nation, that would serve as an incubator for amateur and semi-professional clubs that wish to move into NISA's professional league. NISA stated that this full-season amateur league and its previously announced league affiliations would serve as the foundation of a fully open professional to amateur pyramid in the United States.
The league announced an "alliance" with semi-professional women's soccer league United Women's Soccer on January 28, 2021, with the target of launching a professional women's league in 2022. This proposed league would occupy the at the time vacant second tier of professional women's soccer in the United States. Many NISA clubs, including Detroit City FC, Michigan Stars FC, and NJ Teamsterz FC field or had announced fielding UWS and UWS2 teams. However, on March 20, 2021, it was reported that the alliance had broken down and the leagues had gone their separate ways.
On December 2024, NISA was not given professional sanctioning for the 2025 season.

## Teams
### Current

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Founded | First season | Head coach |
| East Conference teams |||||||
| Club de Lyon | Daytona Beach, Florida | Showalter Field | NA | 2022 | 2023 | Hector Almandoz |
| Georgia FC | Conyers, Georgia | Dalton Academy Stadium | TBD | 2024 | 2024 | Kerem Daser |
| Maryland Bobcats FC | Boyds, Maryland | Maryland SoccerPlex | 4,000 | 2016 | 2021 | Alex Kao |
| Michigan Stars FC | Washington, Michigan | Barnabo Field | 4,000 | 1982 | 2020 | Enis Dokovic |
| Savannah Clovers FC | Savannah, Georgia | Memorial Stadium | 5,000 | 2016 | 2023 | David Proctor |
| West Conference teams |||||||
| Arizona Monsoon FC | Glendale, Arizona | Matt O. Hanhila Field | TBD | 2023 | 2024 | Carlos Padilla (interim) |
| Capo FC | San Juan Capistrano, California | JSerra Catholic High School | TBD | 2006 | 2024 | Peter Carey |
| Irvine Zeta FC | Irvine, California | Championship Soccer Stadium | 5,000 | 2022 | 2024 | Tyler Silva |
| Los Angeles Force | Long Beach, California | Veterans Memorial Stadium | 11,600 | 2019 | 2019 | Dekel Keinan |
| Clubs on hiatus |||||||
| Albion San Diego | San Diego, California | Canyon Crest Academy Stadium | 5,000 | 2017 | 2019 | |
| Gold Star FC | Livonia, Michigan | Madonna Athletic Complex | 5,000 | 2022 | 2023 | Alex Lubyansky |
| Future teams |||||||
| Las Vegas Legends | Paradise, Nevada | TBD | TBD | 2012 | 2025 | |
| Calabasas FC | Thousand Oaks, California | Moorpark High School | | 1979 | TBD | |

### Location map

* 2023 club
* Future club
* Club on hiatus
* See inset map
* 2023 club
* Future club
* Club on hiatus

### Former

| Team | City | Joined | Final season | Fate |
| Atlanta SC | Alpharetta, Georgia | Fall 2019 | Fall 2019 | Folded |
| Bay Cities FC | Redwood City, California | 2021 | 2022 | Folded |
| California United Strikers FC | Irvine, California | Fall 2019 | 2022 | On hiatus |
| Chattanooga FC | Chattanooga, Tennessee | 2020 | 2023 | Moved to MLS Next Pro |
| Chicago House AC | Bridgeview, Illinois | Fall 2021 | Fall 2021 | Moved to Midwest Premier League |
| Detroit City FC | Hamtramck, Michigan | Spring 2020 | Fall 2021 | Moved to USL Championship |
| Flower City Union | Rochester, New York Auburn, New York | 2022 | 2023 | Moved to National Premier Soccer League |
| Miami FC | Miami, Florida | Fall 2019 | Fall 2019 | Moved to USL Championship |
| New Amsterdam FC | Hempstead, New York | 2020 | 2022 | Folded |
| New York Cosmos | Uniondale, New York | 2020 | 2020 | On hiatus |
| Philadelphia Fury | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Fall 2019 | Fall 2019 | Folded |
| Oakland Roots SC | Oakland, California | Fall 2019 | Fall 2020 | Moved to USL Championship |
| San Diego 1904 FC | San Diego, California | Fall 2019 | Fall 2021 | Merged with Albion SC San Diego |
| Stumptown AC | Matthews, North Carolina | Fall 2019 | Fall 2021 | Folded |
| Syracuse Pulse | Syracuse, New York | 2021 | 2022 | Merged with Flower City Union and rebranded as Salt City Union |
| Valley United FC | Mesa, Arizona | 2020 | 2022 | Folded |

### Timeline
## Champions

Teams that no longer participate in the National Independent Soccer Association are in italics.
| Team | Championships | Year(s) | Runners-up | Year(s) | NISA seasons |
| Detroit City FC | 2 | 2020–21, 2021 | | | 2 |
| Michigan Stars | 1 | 2022 | 1 | 2023 | 5 |
| Flower City Union | 1 | 2023 | | | 2 |
| Los Angeles Force | 1 | 2024 | 1 | 2020–21 | 5.5 |
| Albion San Diego | | | 1 | 2022 | 4.5 |
| California United Strikers FC | | | 1 | 2021 | 3.5 |
| Irvine Zeta FC | | | 1 | 2024 | 1.0 |

### NISA Finals results

| Season | Champions | Score | Runner Up | Venue | Attendance | Date |
| 2019–20 | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2020–21 | Detroit City FC | 1–0 | Los Angeles Force | Keyworth Stadium | 7,231 | July 3, 2021 |
| 2021 | Detroit City FC | N/A | California United Strikers FC | Season champion determined by final table results | Season champion determined by final table results | Season champion determined by final table results |
| 2022 | Michigan Stars FC | 1–0 | Albion San Diego | Romeo Stadium | 1,178 | November 6, 2022 |
| 2023 | Flower City Union | 1–0 | Michigan Stars FC | Romeo Stadium | 1,016 | November 11, 2023 |
| 2024 | Los Angeles Force | 1–1 (3–2 p) | Irvine Zeta FC | Veterans Memorial Stadium | 1,447 | October 19, 2024 |

### NISA Independent Cup Champions

| Year | Great Lakes | Midwest | Central Plains/ South Central | Southeast | Southern | Florida | Mid-Atlantic/ East | New England/ Northeast | Empire | Pacific | Southwest | West Coast | SoCal |
| 2020 | Detroit City FC | N/A | Gaffa FC (GCPL) | Chattanooga FC | N/A | N/A | Maryland Bobcats FC (NPSL) | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2021 | Detroit City FC | Milwaukee Torrent (NPSL) | Louisiana Krewe FC (GCPL) | Chattanooga FC | N/A | N/A | Maryland Bobcats FC | Lansdowne Yonkers FC (EPSL) | N/A | PDX FC (USL2) | California United Strikers FC | Los Angeles Force | N/A |
| 2022 | Michigan Stars FC | N/A | N/A | Chattanooga FC | N/A | N/A | Maryland Bobcats FC | Flower City Union | Syracuse Pulse | Wenatchee All-Stars FC (Cascadia Premier League) | Valley FC Raiders (NISA Nation) | Los Angeles Force | ASC San Diego |
| 2023 | Michigan Stars FC | Gold Star FC | N/A | Chattanooga FC | Savannah Clovers FC | Club de Lyon | Maryland Bobcats FC | Flower City Union | N/A | Los Angeles Force | N/A | | ASC San Diego |
| 2024 | FC Milwaukee Torrent (NPSL) | N/A | N/A | Club de Lyon | N/A | N/A | Maryland Bobcats FC | N/A | N/A | Irvine Zeta FC | N/A | Los Angeles Force | N/A |

## NISA Nation and affiliates

In addition to its professional division, NISA operates a full-season amateur league called NISA Nation. NISA's stated long-term goal is to have promotion and relegation between the professional division and NISA Nation, as well as between NISA Nation and seven affiliated regional leagues. Some of those affiliated leagues have entered into promotion and relegation agreements with other leagues, and so a pyramid can be constructed with NISA's Division III professional league at the top.