CHICAGO (May 19, 2022) – The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) front office and Valley United FC (VUFC) are working through internal roster issues at the club. While the league and club have been investigating alleged violations of United States immigration law, Adrian Gaitan and Yuval Raichman have resigned as head coach and general manager, respectively.

Immediately upon discovering what appeared to be coaches and players involved in wrong-doing, VUFC ownership was proactive in engaging the league. As of the timing of this statement, the league and VUFC investigation have discovered a number of potential improprieties. As this is an ongoing investigation, no more detail can be offered at this time.

The club, with the support of NISA, has since:

1. Reviewed all current players documents of registrations
2. Entered into an agreement with a nationally-recognized payroll processing firm to ensure proper payroll methods moving forward
3. Restructured all current players to have taxable payments
4. Secured the proper personnel to do background checks on all hiring moving forward
5. The two organizations also are cooperating with the Internal Revenue Service and Homeland Security.

Six Players total have been caught up in the activities, and all six have been released by the club as the law requires. Beyond the alleged actions violating the trust of club ownership, these activities also violated the trust of the players – both those directly caught up in the activities and the players uninvolved that remain.

Finally, the club has solidified a 16-man roster and the season will continue as planned. VUFC will forfeit all NISA matches played to date with each match scored as 0-3. The club’s table line is now 0-0-6 with a score differential of -18. The club accepts all punishment and will continue to comply and cooperate with all authorities in the ongoing investigation.

Moving forward, the club is working under a “spirit of transparency” clause that takes accountability, not blame, for these unfortunate circumstances, as well as a promise to exude better business practices in the future.

Please direct any media queries to Steve Johnson at stevej@nisasoccer.com.