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The Syracuse Pulse is a National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) soccer team established in May 2021. The club is led by a businessman, Samir Belhseine, a former owner of Dunkin' Donuts franchises in Syracuse, Rochester, and East Orange, New Jersey, for over twenty-nine years. In 2019, Belhseine sold his franchises and bought Ecars USA, an automotive sales and service company based in Rochester.
NISA was founded in 2017 in Chicago, Illinois, with the mission to bring professional soccer to every city in the United States. The organization is a member of the U.S. Soccer Federation. NISA's founders were Peter Wilt and Jack Cummins, both partners at Rebel Nest Sports. The following are NISA's four pillars of foundation:
- An affordable pro division national soccer league with regional-based competition
- An independent league with team owners controlling their franchise
- A plan to limit the league to twenty-four teams and incorporate promotion and relegation once fully populated
- A strong league office that serves its teams with quality staff supplemented by expert consultants
Syracuse Pulse was the first outdoor professional team in central New York since 2004. The club has a youth program, club and recreational teams, and a professional club in United Women's Soccer.
The men's team is coached by head coach and sporting director Peter Fuller and assistant coach Nick Calo. Fuller was the head coach of Chattanooga FC from 2019 to 2021, where he won the NISA Independent Cup in 2020 and 2021. Fuller also served on multiple MLS team staffs, the New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union, and was a coach for the University of Mobile in Alabama for sixteen years. Calo has been the men's assistant coach at Utica College since 2019 and played for the Onondaga Community College Lazers, where he earned NJCAA All-Region 3 honorable mention.
