Born out of necessity, the NISA Independent Cup has so much going for it now. But, its biggest impact might be the potential for what it could be or what could grow out of it.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused massive interruptions to personal lives along with social and cultural institutions. Obviously, sports was not immune to that impact. NISA had to cancel it’s Spring 2020 season due to the pandemic along with other national, regional, and local soccer competitions. COVID restrictions began to ease as the summer waned but those rules and regulations were determined in different ways by federal, state and local jurisdictions. This hodgepodge of standards meant some leagues and clubs could operate and some could not.

As a new league, NISA was in survivability mode. They needed games to be played to keep themselves in the consciousness of soccer fans. Many clubs were in the same boat. NISA scheduled a “bubble” tournament in the fall to determine the champions of that half. But, to bridge the long gap between the aborted spring season and that tournament, the league founded the Independent Cup.

The Independent Cup brought together a number of current NISA clubs along with men’s amateur clubs who wanted to play competitive matches but didn’t have the ability to compete because their leagues had suspended play due to COVID restrictions. Fifteen teams were spread across four regions. Current NISA clubs, Chattanooga FC and Detroit City FC, were joined by two clubs joining the league in the Fall - the New York Cosmos and the expansion New Amsterdam FC. The remaining clubs were higher profile adult amateur clubs mostly from NPSL and UPSL.

The Independent Cup proved a success to a soccer-starved public. As games were available via streaming online, it gave the league and clubs a needed boost in visibility. And, it helped to solidify NISA’s bona fides as a more open organization than most of US soccer. The tournament also provided a way for the Cosmos and New Amsterdam to ease into the fall season proper. And, perhaps the biggest upshot, the Cup was integral in fast tracking the Maryland Bobcats from UPSL champions earlier in 2020 to full-fledged NISA members in Spring of 2021.

NISA just announced the clubs for this year’s Independent Cup and the lineup is more impressive than last year. The number of clubs has more than doubled to 36 over nine regions. This includes three regions on the west coast, an area completely missing from last year’s tournament.

Seven NISA clubs are taking part plus Chicago House and Bay Cities will each see their first league action before joining for real in Fall 2021 and 2022 respectively. Among the amateur clubs includes current UPSL champions, Atletico Atlanta, as well as Lansdowne Yonkers and Newtown Pride, a former and the reigning National Amateur Cup champion respectively.

While the Independent Cup provides a space for open competition between men’s pro clubs and more prominent adult amateur clubs, it also provides a possible path for the future development of the game in a possible number of ways. Most specifically, the Cup gives incoming NISA clubs a highly competitive preseason before hitting the ground for a regular season.

Broader than that, it provides opportunities for amateur clubs to dip their toe in the pro soccer waters that are interested in the possibility of moving up the ladder. It also provides NISA a way to see how those interested clubs operate in a real world competition.

Other than the U.S. Open Cup, the Independent Cup may be the only national men’s soccer competition that includes both amateur and professional sides. It should not be lost that this year’s Independent Cup will be held in the wake of US Soccer’s bungled management of the currently suspended USOC tournament. Combine that with the fed’s lack of resources backing that competition and lower league soccer in general, the potential is there for NISA to step into that widening void. An Independent Cup focused on providing competition among clubs at different levels, it has an opportunity to become a competitor to the USOC as a national open tournament.

Follow the NISA 2021 Cup HERE