| Club: | California United Strikers FC |
| Season: | 2020–21 NISA |
| Owner: | Pete Capriotti Bronwyn Capriotti |
| Chrtitle: | President |
| Chairman: | Michael Collins |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| Manager: | Don Ebert |
| Stadium: | Championship Stadium Irvine, California |
| League: | NISA |
| League Result: | Fall, Western Conf.: 2nd Spring: 4th |
| Cup1: | Playoffs |
| Cup1 Result: | Fall Group stage |
| Cup2: | Legends Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | 6th place |
| Cup3: | U.S. Open Cup |
| Cup3 Result: | Did not qualify |
| League Topscorer: | Christian Thierjung 3 |
| Season Topscorer: | Christian Thierjung 5 |
| Largest Win: | CAL 3–0 MSFC (May 16) |
| Largest Loss: | CAL 0–3 DCFC (May 12) |
| American: | true |
| Prevseason: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2020–21 California United Strikers FC season was the club's second in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and second as a professional team overall.
Don Ebert – Head coach Roy Chingirian – Assistant coach Willie Diaz – Assistant coach| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | FC Helsingør | Free transfer | September 1, 2020 | [1] | |||
| 22 | HNK Gorica | Free transfer | September 3, 2020 | [2] | |||
| 16 Returning Players | California United Strikers FC | Re-signed | February 14, 2021 | [3] | |||
| 27 | Unattached | Free transfer | February 24, 2021 | align=center rowspan="2" | [4] | ||
| 1 | Detroit City FC | Free transfer | February 24, 2021 | ||||
| 17 | Strikers FC - Irvine | Free transfer | March 12, 2021 | [5] | |||
| 20 | Chico State Wildcats | Free transfer | March 20, 2021 | [6] | |||
| 14 | Chattanooga FC | Free transfer | March 24, 2021 | [7] [8] | |||
| 19 | Las Vegas Lights FC | Free transfer | April 6, 2021 | [9] | |||
| 7 | San Diego 1904 FC | Free transfer | April 7, 2021 | [10] | |||
| 21 | FC Golden State | Free transfer | April 10, 2021 | [11] | |||
| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 7 | Unattached | Not re-signed | align=center rowspan="9" | ||||
| 8 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 12 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 17 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 18 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 20 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 21 | California United Strikers FC | Joined coaching staff | |||||
| 30 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 33 | Unattached | Not re-signed | |||||
| 11 | Los Angeles Force | Not re-signed | [12] | ||||
| 4 | Los Angeles Force | Not re-signed | [13] | ||||
| 1 | Los Angeles Force | Not re-signed | [14] | ||||
On June 4, NISA announced details for the 2020 Fall Season.[15] The eight member teams would be split into conferences, Eastern and Western, with the Strikers playing in the later. The team is set to play two regular season games, one home and one away, against the rest of the Western Conference.
The Fall regular season schedule was announced on July 31, 2020.[16]
All eight NISA teams qualified for the 2020 Fall tournament, which will be hosted at Keyworth Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, beginning on September 21 ending with the final on October 2.[17]
NISA announced initial spring season plans in early February 2021, including starting the season with a tournament in Chattanooga, Tennessee with a standard regular season to follow.[18] [19] The tournament, now called the NISA Legends Cup, was officially announced on March 10 and is scheduled to run between April 13 and 25.[20] All nine NISA members teams taking part in the Spring were divided into three team groups and played a round robin schedule. The highest placing group winner automatically qualified for the tournament final, while the second and third highest finishing teams overall played one-another in a semifinal to determine a second finalist.
The Strikers were drawn into Group 2 alongside Detroit City FC and the returning Stumptown AC.
The Spring Season schedule was announced on March 18 with each association member playing eight games, four home and four away, in a single round-robin format.[21]
See main article: 2021 U.S. Open Cup. As a team playing in a recognized professional league, the Strikers would normally be automatically qualified for the U.S. Open Cup. However, with the 2021 edition shorted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, NISA has only been allotted 1 to 2 teams spots.[22] On March 29, U.S. Soccer announced 2020 Fall Champion Detroit City FC as NISA's representative in the tournament.[23]
|-! colspan="14" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Goalkeepers|-! colspan="14" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Defenders|-! colspan="14" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Midfielders|-! colspan="14" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Forwards|-! colspan="14" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Left during season|-|}
| width=60 | Place | width=60 | Position | width=60 | Nation | width=60 | Number | width=150 | Name | width=150 | Fall Season | width=150 | Fall Playoffs | width=150 | Legends Cup | width=150 | Spring Season | width=80 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MF | | 16 | Christian Thierjung | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 2 | FW |  | 9 | Omar Nuño | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 3 | MF | 7 | Billy Garton Jr. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||
| MF | | 8 | Tony Lopez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||
| MF | | 21 | Alejandro Araneda | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
| 4 | MF | | 11 | Shane Kaemerle | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||
| FW | | 12 | Michael Bryant | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||
| FW | 14 | Darwin Lom | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| DF | | 20 | Garrett Hogbin | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Number | Nation | Position | Name | Fall Season | Fall Playoff | Legends Cup | Spring Season | Total | |||||
| 4 | | DF | Aydan Bowers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 5 | | DF | Xavier Ikaika Fuerte | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 7 | | DF | Adan Coronado | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | | MF | Tony Lopez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | | FW | Omar Nuño | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | | FW | Michael Bryant | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | | MF | Evan Waldrep | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 19 | | DF | Bryan de la Fuente | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | | MF | Alejandro Araneda | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 22 |  | FW | Minjae Kwak | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | | DF | Chris Klute | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 27 | | GK | Mitchell North | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 33 | | DF | Kevin Garcia-Lopez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 |
| HC | Don Ebert | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |