NISA Nation

Organizing body	NISA
Founded	September 17, 2020; 5 years ago (2020-09-17)
First season	2021
Country	United States
Confederation	CONCACAF (North American Football Union)
Divisions	4
Number of clubs	22
Domestic cup	U.S. Open Cup
League cup	NISA Independent Cup
International cup(s)	CONCACAF Champions League (via U.S. Open Cup)
Current champion(s)	New York Greek American (1st title)
Most championships	NoVa FC New York Greek American (1 title each)
Broadcaster(s)	Eleven Sports
Website	nisanation.com
Current:2025 NISA Nation season

NISA Nation is asemi-professional men'ssoccer league in the United States. The league is below the professional leagues in theUnited States soccer league system and began play in 2021. NISA Nation is affiliated with the third tier professional leagueNational Independent Soccer Association.^[1][2]

On August 25, 2021,Atlantic City FC was announced as the first club of the newly formed league.^[3] Two weeks later, NISA Nation announced they had six teams for their inaugural season and they would play a 10-game schedule in the Northeast Region. This inaugural region included the leagues first promoted team,Steel Pulse FC from theEastern Premier Soccer League.^[4] In October 2021, NISA Nation announced the start of a second region. The Southwest Region was started with four teams, each team playing six games in a round robin format.^[5]New Jersey Alliance FC beatNew Amsterdam FC II 4–0 to secure the first regional championship for the Northeast Region.^[6] In early January 2022,FC Golden State Force claimed the first Southwest Region championship.^[7]

On January 6, 2022, it was announced that NISA Nation earned from theUnited States Adult Soccer Association theUSASA provisional national league license, a license that gave recognition to the league and that opens the way toU.S. Open Cup spots directly from the league.^[8] The Florida Region was announced in the Spring of 2022, with five teams facing each other three times in the Orlando area.^[9] In addition to the Florida Region, NISA Nation announced that the Northeast Region's spring season would consist of eight clubs playing 10 games a piece. The defending champions New Jersey Alliance FC, returned to defend their title during the spring season.^[10] In May 2022, the Pacific Region was announced with four teams, playing a 12-game schedule.^[11] This brought the league to 23 teams for the Spring of 2022.^[12] Each region crowned a champion for the2022 NISA Nation season. The four champions were Club De Lyon (Florida Region), New Jersey Alliance FC (Northeast Region), Battleborn FC (Pacific Region), and Capo FC (Southwest Region).^[13]

NISA Nation announced in early 2023 that the Southwest region would return for play in the spring with six clubs, including three previous clubs and three new clubs: AS Los Angeles, SC Union Maricopa, and Olympiacos CA.^[14] In early 2023, NISA Nation announced the addition of the Pacific Division for the spring, with five teams committed and ten teams planned.^[15] In July 2023, NISA Nation announced the formation of the Texas Region for fall 2023.^[16] For the fall of 2023, NISA Nation ran three regional leagues; Pacific, Southwest, and Texas Regions.^[17]

In October 2023, NISA Nation announced that they would hold their inaugural National Championship, which would have three rounds to determine the national champions. Eligible to participate were the champions of the NISA Nation regions, as well as the champions of its affiliate leagues.^[18] The two finalists,Northern Virginia FC andLas Vegas Legends, were both invited to promote to the third-tierNISA. The inaugural Championship represented the first opportunity for merit-based promotion to the professional level in theUnited States soccer league system.^[19]

Teams from NISA Nation participated in the 36 team NISA Independent Cup in 2022.^[20]

Clubs in NISA Nation can qualify for theU.S. Open Cup through the local qualifying route.Capo FC and Club de Lyon are the only two teams to qualify for the tournament proper, which they both did in the2023 U.S. Open Cup.^[21]

NISA Nation is affiliated and plans to begin apro-rel system with multiple leagues all over the country: the Cascadia Premier League^[29] in Washington and Oregon, the Mountain Premier League in the Rocky Mountains region, and the Southwest Premier League in the southwestern United States, theGulf Coast Premier League in the deep south, the Pioneer Premier League in Tennessee and Kentucky, theMidwest Premier League^[30] in the states of Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri. In 2023 reaffirmed their association with Cascadia Premier League, Mountain Premier League, and Southwest Premier League. This aligned all four leagues top division aside NISA Nation. This will continue to provide these leagues with slots in the NISA Independent Cup and began a new initiative that provided a national championship to be competed between NISA Nation Regional champions and league winners.^[31] In August 2023, NISA Nation announced the association with Florida Gold Coast League.^[32] In October 2023, NISA Nation announced their affiliation with Metroplex Premier League, an amateur league from North Texas.^[33] In February 2024, NISA Nation announced the Upstate New York Region as the fourth region for the 2024 Spring season.^[34] In January 2025, NISA Nation announced their plans for the 2025 season, which included continued affiliation for Cascadia Premier League, Metroplex Premier League, Mountain Premier League, and Southwest Premier League. In addition, NISA Nation announced that the Michigan Premier Lague would be a new affiliate for 2025.^[35]

Notes

LA Force 2

Temecula FC

Worldwide Problem

Capo

Sin City FC

STG Premier Pro

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NISA Nation clubs
Coast Region; Southwest Region;

Notes

• NISA Nation website

• National Independent Soccer Association
• Men's soccer leagues in the United States
• 2020 establishments in the United States
• Sports leagues established in 2020

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata