| Competition: | National Independent Soccer Association |
| Dates: | Oct. 21 – Nov. 6 (playoffs) |
| Winners: | Michigan Stars FC |
| Shieldtitle: | Regular season title |
| Shield: | California United Strikers FC |
| Matches: | 94 |
| Total Goals: | 239 |
| League Topscorer: | Markus Naglestad (19) |
| Biggest Home Win: | MAR 6–1 FCU (April 2) CAL 5–0 LAF (Jun 26) |
| Biggest Away Win: | FCU 0–5 CHA (Jul 16) |
| Highest Scoring: | CAL 4–3 BCFC (April 23) |
| Longest Winless: | 9 games FCU |
| Longest Losses: | 5 games FCU |
| Prevseason: | 2021 |
| Nextseason: | 2023 |
| Updated: | October 15, 2022 |
The 2022 NISA season is the fourth season of the National Independent Soccer Association's third-division soccer competition. After three years of split seasons, NISA switched to a full season format, with a single table and a playoff competition to determine the 2022 champion.[1]
Six of the teams that participated in the 2021 Fall season returned, and were joined by four expansion clubs: Bay Cities FC, Flower City Union, Syracuse Pulse, and Valley United FC. From the existing 2021 teams, San Diego 1904 FC were rebranded to Albion San Diego, after merging with the youth club with the same name,[2] while Chicago House AC, New Amsterdam FC and Stumptown AC will be on hiatus for 2022, and current title holders Detroit City FC moved to USL Championship.[3]
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albion San Diego | San Diego, California | Canyon Crest Academy Stadium | 5,000 |
| Bay Cities FC | Redwood City, California | Terremere Field | 3,500 |
| California United Strikers FC | Irvine, California | Championship Soccer Stadium | 5,000 |
| Chattanooga FC | Chattanooga, Tennessee | Finley Stadium | 20,668 |
| Flower City Union | Rochester, New York | Marina Auto Stadium | 13,768 |
| Los Angeles Force | Whittier, California | Various | |
| Maryland Bobcats FC | Boyds, Maryland | Maryland SoccerPlex | 4,000 |
| Michigan Stars FC | Washington, Michigan | Romeo High School | 4,000 |
| Syracuse Pulse | Syracuse, New York | Lazer Stadium | 2,000 |
| Valley United FC | Mesa, Arizona | Bell Bank Park | 5,000 |
Note: The league has signed a deal with Hummel to be the official kit manufacturer, but it still allows clubs to find their own provider.[4]
| Team | Head coach | Captain(s) | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albion San Diego |  | Ozzie Ramos | Capelli | Nova Easy Kombucha |
| Bay Cities FC | | Hummel | Premia | |
| California United Strikers FC | | | Nike | Taco Bell |
| Chattanooga FC | | Hummel | Louisiana Hot Sauce, VfL Wolfsburg | |
| Flower City Union | (interim) | Hummel | ||
| Los Angeles Force |  | | Xara | — |
| Maryland Bobcats FC |  | Kay Banjo | Hummel | Jimmy's Famous Seafood |
| Michigan Stars FC | | Hummel | HTC | |
| Syracuse Pulse | | |  Givova | Montreal Construction, SOS |
| Valley United FC | | Capelli | ||
| Flower City Union | Zach Agliata[5] | Resigned | May 3, 2022 | 4th in East | Colton Bly (interim) | May 3, 2022 | |
| Valley United | Adrian Gaitan[6] | Resigned | May 19, 2022 | 2nd in East | TBD |
The season started on March 26, and will see each team play 26 games over 30 weeks: four times against each opponent in the same division and two times against each opponent in the opposite division.
Due to Bay Cities FC's withdrawal from this season, NISA has revised the 2022 schedule and table with the eight remaining clubs. As a result, this standings had been condensed into a single table format and used an average-points per game total (points earned divided by matches played).[7]
The playoffs began on October 21, and featured the top six teams from the regular season. The top two teams from the regular season table received a bye into the league semifinals. Teams finishing third through sixth played in the quarterfinals, with the winners being re-seeded before playing in the next round. The 2022 Final took place on November 6. All postseason games were broadcast online on Eleven Sports.
Originally, the East and West division winners would have been assigned the top two seeds and received byes to the semifinals. The second place teams in each division were to be seeded 3 and 4, while the third place finishers would be seeded 5 and 6. Following the restructuring of the table on August 27, the division aspect was dropped.
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Éder Guerrero | Los Angeles Force | 5 |
| Steven Juncaj | Michigan Stars | ||
| David Mason | Maryland Bobcats | ||
 Markus Naglestad | Chattanooga FC | ||
| 5 | Elijah Amo | Maryland Bobcats | 4 |
 Alioune Diakhate | Albion San Diego | ||
| Darwin Espinal | Maryland Bobcats | ||
 Walter Varela | Albion San Diego | ||
| Gustavo Villalobos | California United Strikers | ||
| 10 | 7 players tied | 3 | |
| 8 | Edson Cardona | Bay Cities FC | 3 |
| Felipe Liborio Jr. | California United Strikers | ||
| Tony Lopez | California United Strikers | ||
| Pablo Pelaez | Albion San Diego | ||
| Kevin Garcia-Lopez | California United Strikers | ||
| Brett Jones | Chattanooga FC | ||
 Michael Kafari | Syracuse Pulse | ||
| Anthony Orendain | Bay Cities FC | ||
| Josiah Romero | Bay Cities FC | ||
| Jordan Saling | Flower City Union | ||
| 3 | Brandon Clegg | Maryland Bobcats | 1 |
| Darwin Espinal | Maryland Bobcats | ||
| Manuel Gonzalez | Maryland Bobcats | ||
| Daniel Herrera | Valley United | ||
| Elias McCloud | Michigan Stars | ||
| Kyle Nuel | Syracuse Pulse | ||
| Ricardo Velazco | Valley United | ||
| Evan Waldrep | Syracuse Pulse | ||
| Andrew Wivell | Maryland Bobcats--> | ||
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jean Antoine | California United Strikers | 11 | ||
| Tatenda Mkuruva | Michigan Stars | ||||
| 3 | Felix Annan | Maryland Bobcats | 6 | ||
| Kevin Gonzalez | Chattanooga FC | ||||
| 5 | Brandon Gomez | Los Angeles Force | 5 | ||
| 6 | Benjamin Roach | Albion San Diego | 4 | ||
| 7 | Daniel Gagliardi | Syracuse Pulse | 3 | ||
| Alec Redington | Chattanooga FC | ||||
| Macklin Robinson | Syracuse Pulse | ||||
| 10 | 5 players tied | 2 | Steven Barrera | California United Strikers | |
| Ian McGrane | Bay Cities FC | ||||
| Maykell Ortega | Flower City Union | ||||
 Christian Caulker | Maryland Bobcats | ||||
| Alan Cruz-Gomez | Bay Cities FC | ||||
| Ryan Buckingham | Albion San Diego | ||||
| Paul Lewis | Michigan Stars--> | ||||
| Award | Winner | Team | Reason | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Boot | Markus Naglestad | Chattanooga FC | 19 goals in 23 games | [9] | |
| Golden Glove | Jean Antoine | California United Strikers FC | 12 shutouts in 16 matches; 5 goals against | ||
| Coach of the Year | Rod Underwood | Chattanooga FC | 14-7-3 record | ||
| Golden Ball (Most Valuable Player) | Markus Naglestad | Chattanooga FC | 19 goals, 5 assists |
The NISA Independent Cup will start on June 25. It features nine of the ten NISA clubs, with California United Strikers FC opting not to participate the tournament. They will be joined by 27 invited amateur teams and divided geographically into nine regions of four clubs each. Each region will play a single round robin tournament between three amateur teams using a 10-point system. The winner of that round-robin will play against the NISA teams for the regional championship. Like last year, there will be no interregional play or national champion.
Nine NISA teams play in nine regions respectively, as California United Strikers FC did not participate. Midwest, New England and South Central region replaced with Empire, Northeast and SoCal region due to lack of NISA teams (despite Michigan Stars based from Midwest but plays in Great Lakes as NISA's 2022 season did not have Midwest based clubs other than Michigan Stars).
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Omar Nuño