| Club: | Oakland Roots SC |
| Season: | 2020–21 NISA |
| Chrtitle: | Chairman |
| Chairman: | Steven Aldrich |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| Manager: | Jordan Ferrell |
| Stadium: | Laney College Oakland, CA |
| League: | NISA |
| League Result: | Fall, Western Conf.: 1st |
| Cup1: | Playoffs |
| Cup1 Result: | Fall Fall Championship Final |
| League Topscorer: | Matthew Fondy 2 |
| Season Topscorer: | Matthew Fondy 5 |
| Largest Win: | OAK 3–0 NAFC (Sep. 21, Fall Playoffs) |
| Largest Loss: | OAK 1–2 DCFC (Sep. 23, Fall Playoffs) OAK 1–2 DCFC (Oct. 2, Fall Championship) |
| American: | true |
| Prevseason: | 2019–20 |
| Nextseason: | 2021 |
The 2020–21 Oakland Roots SC season was the club's second in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and second overall.
On September 15, 2020, Oakland announced that it would be joining the second division USL Championship in 2021.[1] The Roots became the fourth NISA team to cease league play during an on-going season and second to-do so in order to join the USLC after Miami FC made the same jump one year prior.
Jordan Ferrell – Head coach Kristopher Hall – Assistant coach
Yuta Tanaka – Strength and conditioning coach| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date | Source | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | SK Zápy | Free transfer | July 31, 2020 | [2] | ||||
| 10 | San Diego 1904 FC | Free transfer | August 6, 2020 | [3] | ||||
| 22 | Reno 1868 FC | Loan for Fall season | align=center rowspan=2 | September 3, 2020 | align=center rowspan=2 | [4] | ||
| 61 | Cal State Northridge Matadors | Free transfer | ||||||
| 1 | Tacoma Defiance | End of loan | ||||||
| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Unattached | Retired | July 14, 2020 | [5] | ||
| 3 | Chattanooga FC | Free transfer | August 31, 2020 | [6] | ||
| 4 | Unattached | Not re-signed | ||||
| 13 |  Adriese | Free transfer | September 4, 2020 | |||
| 15 | Unattached | Not re-signed | ||||
| 17 | Unattached | Not re-signed | ||||
| 22 | Unattached | Not re-signed | ||||
| 5 | Unattached | Retired | November 17, 2020 | [7] [8] [9] | ||
| 22 | Reno 1868 FC | End of loan | November 30, 2020 | |||
On July 30, 2020, Oakland announced it would be hosting and broadcasting a special event prior to the regular season start called the "Justice Match" on August 29.[10] The scrimmage featured Roots players mixed into two teams with retired local women's professional players and local women's soccer ambassadors that both played and coached, including former USWNT player Aly Wagner, Miranda Nild of the Thailand women's national football team, and former Afghanistan captain Hailai Arghandiwal.[11]
The event was postponed on August 26 due to unhealthy air quality from the 2020 California wildfires.[12] It was later rescheduled for October 10.[13]
On June 4, NISA announced details for the 2020 Fall Season.[14] The eight member teams would be split into conferences, Eastern and Western, with the Roots playing in the later.
The Fall regular season schedule was announced on July 31, 2020.[15] The team is set to play two regular season games, both on the road, against the rest of the Western Conference.
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.[16]
|-! colspan="16" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Goalkeepers|-! colspan="16" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Defenders|-! colspan="16" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Midfielders|-! colspan="16" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center"| Forwards|-|}
| width=60 | Place | width=60 | Position | width=60 | Nation | width=60 | Number | width=150 | Name | width=150 | Fall Season | width=150 | Fall Playoffs | width=80 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FW | | 06 | Matthew Fondy | 2 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2 | FW | | 9 | Jack McInerney | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| FW | | 61 | Johnny Rodriguez | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| 3 | MF | | 8 | Angel Heredia | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| MF |  | 10 | Nelson Blanco | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| MF |  | 88 | Seo-In Kim | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Number | Nation | Position | Name | Fall Season | Fall Playoff | Total | |||
| 2 | | DF | Daniel Navarro | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | | FW | Jack McInerney | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 10 | | MF | Nelson Blanco | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | | MF | Peter Pearson | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 16 |  | MF | Niall Irwin | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 22 |  | MF | Diego Casillas | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 44 | MF | Ariel Mbumba | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 49 | | DF | Tarn Weir | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 50 | | DF | David Abidor | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 91 |  | MF | Yohannes Harish | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |