Emmanuele Sembroni became the second Cosmos to agree to terms for the 2020 NISA season. (Photo courtesy of the Cosmos)

NEW YORK — Defender Emmanuele Sembroni has signed a contract with the Cosmos for the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) fall season, the club announced on Tuesday.

As per club policy, terms of the contract were not revealed.

Sembroni became the second member of Cosmos to return to the club, joining captain Danny Szetela.

“Very excited, very happy to rejoin the club,” Sembroni said. “It was always in my point to continue and to start where we left off. We already know that last season was a very successful season. Unfortunately, we fell short in the final. This has to be a reason why we should prepare from the start where we left and to prepare for NISA for the second part of the season to be extremely competitive and play to win because we’re the Cosmos.”

The Cosmos finished with the best record during the 2019 National Premier Soccer League season but lost to Miami FC in the final.

Sembroni, 32, formed a dynamo duo with Matt Lewis in the center of the Cosmos defense. He earned NPSL Members Cup Best XI honors along with teammates Darwin Espinal and Aly Hassan.

“Sembroni is a top-class guy with a lot of experience,” Cosmos head coach Carlos Mendes said. “Central defender is always an important position for a team. Having Emmanuele back will make that a position of strength for us and we know we can expect great leadership out of him.

“We’ll be signing a lot of young, talented players this year and guys like Sembroni are important to show the new kids how to become real professionals.”

To keep fit during the offseason, Sembroni has been working out, taking up boxing and focusing on proper nutrition, teaching the latter at the Robert Louis Stevenson School in Manhattan.

He is coming off a memorable 2019 campaign, having been named Cosmos player of the year by the 5 Points supporters club.

“I didn’t expect it,” Sembroni said. “I was kind of like surprised of how nice that was. It made me really proud of the work that we did. When I say we, without the support of my teammates on the club, my family and all the people around me, I wouldn’t have been able to succeed like I did. I’m very grateful for that. It is good motivation for next season, to do even more than what I did than the last one.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.