The National Premier Soccer League announced Tuesday that Southern States SC of Hattiesburg, Miss. has joined the league as an expansion team.

The club will begin competition in the South Region in 2021.

“Hattiesburg is a fantastic soccer area,” NPSL managing director Cindy Spera said in a statement. “This is a great opportunity for Southern States SC and for the NPSL. An organization of this quality will contribute enormously to the stability of the region and bring attention to their partner teams and to the league. We are excited at the potential and look forward to seeing their success.”

The club is led by Carl Reynolds and Nigel Boulton.

Reynolds, who serves as Southern States Soccer’s director of coaching, will take the reigns as head coach of the NPSL team. He was an All-American player at William Carey University and has coached at Sporting Gijon in Spain and with the Red Bulls. Reynolds will be renewing his acquaintance with the NPSL having reached two national championship finals while playing for Chattanooga FC.

“It’s an honor to accept this role,” Reynolds said. “At this club, we always talk about pathways for players and we continue to self-examine and seek further challenges for them and ourselves as coaches. We have high expectations for everyone and look forward to the challenge of meeting them during our inaugural season.”

With more 30 years of experience as a coach and administrator, Boulton brings a wealth of knowledge to the role of general manager.

“We will bring a professionally operated club that will engage seamlessly into the conference structure,” Boulton said.

Southern States Soccer has been active for five years in the youth arena in and around Hattiesburg as well as having strong player links to the border areas of Louisiana and Alabama. The club’s motto is “Creating the Future.” It will now aim to add another level of play apart from its youth players through the NPSL team.

Home matches will be played at The Oakes Training Center in Oak Grove, Miss. It is a state-of-the-art facility for training that includes a futsal center and artificial turf field. Completion of the stadium around the Bermuda grass field will be ready for the club’s opening NPSL game, the NPSL said in a press release.

“The NPSL has proven to be an outstanding organization over the years and we are confident it will be into the future,” Boulton said.

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.