Last weekend, the 2025 US Soccer Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place in Atlanta, Georgia. The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) were represented at the four-day event, in part, to discuss the league’s plans for future professional play.
According to various sources who attended the meetings and who have been granted anonymity for this story, NISA remains unsanctioned professionally for 2025. Kartik Krishnaiyer of Beyond The 90 was the first to report that NISA remains unsanctioned following the AGM.
That contradicts a statement made in January by NISA Communications Specialist Steve Johnson, who told Hudson River Blue that “NISA continues with the same provisional sanctioning status it has had since inception.” At the time, NISA announced a delayed start to the 2025 season, targeting a return to play at an unspecified date in April “with an anticipated championship match in October.”
Hudson River Blue reached out to Johnson again this week to ask for clarification. "Everything is still a work in progress towards in [sic] April start. There's nothing more I can share at this time," Johnson told Hudson River Blue.
Despite that assurance, the current status of NISA remains unclear, and the April restart of league play is in doubt.
Michael Battista
Discussions went down to Georgia
According to sources, NISA do not have provisional sanctioning but could regain it in 2025 if the league meet specific benchmarks set by USSF. However, after the league and USSF met at the AGM, it was confirmed that not all of these bars had been cleared. Hudson River Blue cannot independently report which benchmarks have yet to be met by NISA.
Sources vary on the tone of the meetings between NISA and USSF. One said that “NISA is on a pathway to being a sanctioned pro league this year but has not met all the steps yet,” confirming Johnson's statement above. Another claimed that “nothing had changed” regarding NISA’s reportedly unsanctioned status, and they do not feel the season will begin in April.
The federation are willing to give NISA more time to fulfill the designated benchmarks, according to our sources. Should the league meet those standards, USSF could grant provisional sanctioning at any time. That means a hypothetical NISA professional season could still happen this year, be it at the April start announced by the league in January, a date later this year, or possibly a return to the Fall-Spring format that NISA originally kicked off with.
According to our sources, NISA are still a member of the USSF with voting privileges. Various promotional materials at the AGM included NISA’s logo alongside other member organizations. Of note, the North American Soccer League, which has not been active on the field since 2017 and recently lost a lawsuit against USSF and Major League Soccer, is also still a member league with voting ability.
In December, Hudson River Blue first reported that NISA was no longer going to be provisionally sanctioned as a Division III men’s professional league. NISA has operated as a Division III league, the same level as MLS NEXT Pro and USL League One, since it began play in the Fall of 2019.
The following month, the US Soccer Federation (USSF) announced the field of 2025 US Open Cup teams, and NISA was not included. USSF requires that all professional leagues participate in the tournament, but a statement from NISA at that time claimed they were still provisionally sanctioned.
One aspect of Division III sanctioning is having at least eight viable teams that all meet the Professional League Standards (PLS) set out by US Soccer. To date, only two NISA teams, Los Angeles Force and Savannah Clovers FC, have held any sort of public tryouts for players in 2025.
One-time NISA champion Michigan Stars FC have publicly attacked NISA on social media while asking not to be mentioned by the organization. Maryland Bobcats FC, which was disqualified from the NISA playoffs after winning the league regular season, are also not returning, according to team sources.
Questions on the amateur side, too
As the professional league’s status remains in limbo, it puts the amateur arm of NISA, NISA Nation, in a precarious situation. Founded in late 2020 as a continuation of NISA’s goal to open up the American soccer system, NISA Nation offered amateur teams with professional aspirations a starting point before potentially joining NISA's professional Division III league.
In its time, multiple teams have made the jump to NISA after playing in NISA Nation. This includes Club de Lyon FC and Capo FC, also known as Capistrano FC, both of which competed during the 2024 NISA season. As a national amateur league itself, the quality of play in NISA Nation has been fairly good with multiple member teams qualifying for the US Open Cup in recent years.
On January 21, NISA Nation announced they were returning for a 2025 Spring Season. Since then, the league has confirmed seven regions around the country in areas such as North Texas, Michigan, and the Southwest. On social media, team announcements have been steadily coming out, with just under 20 announced at this time. The league also confirmed affiliations with regional amateur leagues across the country.
However, behind the scenes, NISA Nation are less confident about their future. In a recent exchange, NISA Nation Outreach and Communications Lead Dennis Pope claimed that the league had been damaged extensively by NISA’s reported loss of professional Division III sanctioning. While he did not provide further details, many believe that without the professional league above it, the amateur league will not be able to continue functioning.
According to a league source who wished to remain anonymous, NISA Nation might be on the verge of losing their Northeast Region affiliate. Locally, NISA Nation partners with the American Premier Soccer League (formerly the Eastern Premier Soccer League) as an affiliate to act as their Northeast Region.
According to our source, the affiliation agreement between NISA Nation and the APSL includes a clause that if NISA’s professional league loses its sanctioning, the APSL can opt out of the affiliate agreement.
This agreement has been in place since 2022, and according to teams within the APSL, it’s scheduled to run for five seasons. That would make the ongoing 2024-25 season the third year of the deal. Through this partnership, the champion of the APSL qualifies for the NISA Nation national tournament alongside other regional champions. The national championship has been played since the 2022-23 season and both winners have come from the APSL, with Astoria-based New York Greek Americans winning last December.
Michael Battista
Where will NISA Nation teams go?
Should NISA not be sanctioned – and should the APSL break away – the fate of the other regions and teams would be up in the air. Many NISA Nation teams already field sides in other leagues such as the UPSL and NPSL.
A meeting between NISA Nation officials and The League for Clubs, a first-year national amateur league, also took place at the USSF AGM in Atlanta. A member of that meeting stated that NISA Nation officials asked questions regarding TLfC’s progress during the offseason in gaining teams. No discussions regarding merging came up at the meeting, though NISA Nation did seem interested in potentially implementing some of TLfC’s business tactics.
The APSL itself could be a potential landing spot. In 2024, while still under the name EPSL, news broke that the league intended to expand into Southeastern states like the Carolinas and Florida. While the league has only barely crossed the Mason-Dixon line, absorbing the former NISA Nation clubs and the recent renaming of the league could help in proving it as a national organization. This option has been discussed internally within the APSL but no decision has been made regarding potentially adding castaway NISA Nation teams at this time.
Other options for NISA Nation’s regions are limited. The USL League Two schedule has already been released for 2025, meaning altering it with new teams would be difficult if not impossible. The National Premier Soccer League is reportedly open to adding more teams but has already announced the majority of its 2025 schedule as well.
Michael Battista
