The National Premier Soccer League has announced that Syracuse FC will join the league as an expansion team this summer.

The club will compete in the Midwest Region. According to the league's website, Syracuse will be in the East Conference with Cleveland, Dayton, Erie, Buffalo, Fort Pitt and Rochester.

The NPSL is a national league that operates in the 4th Division of the U.S. Soccer pyramid. The NPSL remains one of the largest national leagues in North America

"We are very excited that the Midwest Region continues to grow," NPSL Chairman Joe Barone said in a statement. "We've seen incredible growth all across the country and now we're adding to one of our league's strongest conferences."

Syracuse FC is led by Jaro Zawislan (president), Matt Tantalo (GM/head coach), Joe Papaleo, (vice president, soccer operations), Marcello Vitale (vice president, business operations), and L.J. Papaleo (director of sales & marketing).

Zawislan was an NCAA Division I coach for over 16 years, most recently as head coach at Cornell University and previously as assistant coach at Creighton University, Stanford and Syracuse University.

Joe Papaleo has been head coach at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse for 21 years, and has led the team to numerous regional and state titles. As a player, he was an All-American goalkeeper at Syracuse University and played professionally across North America for 12 years.

Vitale has been coaching soccer for more than 30 years at the youth and high school levels, and he has helped to establish numerous soccer clubs in the Syracuse area. He played NCAA Division I soccer at Syracuse University, where he was the program's leading scorer for all four years. He is SU's current all-time leading scorer.

L.J. Papaleo is the head coach of the Fayetteville-Manlius junior varsity boys soccer team, and he has also coached at the youth and collegiate levels. An All-Star player at Christian Brothers Academy, he went on to play at Albany and Syracuse University.

"Syracuse FC will give people the opportunity to follow an outdoor soccer team competing in a national league," Zawislan said. "Our fans will be able to experience a professional soccer environment, with all of the rivalries, passion and excitement enjoyed by soccer fans around the world. Syracuse FC will cater as much to the passionate soccer fan who wants to watch high level, nationally competitive play, as to the casual sports spectator who wants to cheer on a local favorite."

Home matches will be played at David W. Murphy Field at Onondaga Community College. Murphy Field is a lighted field equipped with a FieldTurf playing surface, a press box, a ticket and concession booth, and seating for up to 2,000.

Ticket and schedule information has yet to be released.