| Club: | New York City FC |
| Season: | 2021 |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| Manager: | Ronny Deila |
| Stadium: | Yankee Stadium (The Bronx, New York) Red Bull Arena (Temporary) (Harrison, New Jersey) |
| Capacity: | 25,000 |
| League: | MLS |
| League Result: | Conference: 4th Overall: 8th |
| Cup1: | MLS Cup Playoffs |
| Cup1 Result: | Champions |
| Cup2: | U.S. Open Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Canceled |
| Cup3: | Leagues Cup |
| Cup3 Result: | Quarter-finals |
| Largest Win: | NYC 6–0 DC (10/23) |
| Largest Loss: | NSH 3–1 NYC (9/3) |
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| Prevseason: | 2020 |
| Nextseason: | 2022 |
| American: | true |
The 2021 New York City FC season was the club's seventh season of competition and its seventh in the top tier of American soccer, Major League Soccer. New York City FC usually played its home games at Yankee Stadium in the New York City borough of The Bronx. Like the 2020 MLS season, the club also played several of their home games at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey due to scheduling conflicts with Yankee Stadium and its backup stadium, Citi Field.[1] [2] New York City FC won the clubs' first MLS Cup title by defeating the Portland Timbers 2–4 in penalty shoot-outs with a 1–1 score before going into extra time, in which neither of the teams scored.
In addition to the MLS season, the club also competed in the Leagues Cup for the first time, finishing up in the quarter-finals after losing to UNAM in a penalty shoot-out.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | DF |  Malte Amundsen | Vejle BK | Signed on permanent transfer | February 12, 2021 | [3] |
| 21 | MF |  Andres Jasson | Yale Bulldogs | Homegrown Contract | November 19, 2020 | [4] |
| 25 | GK | Cody Mizell | New Mexico United | Transfer | March 4, 2021 | [5] |
| 23 | MF | Gedion Zelalem | New York City FC | Re-sign | March 8, 2021 | [6] |
| 2 | DF | Chris Gloster |  Jong PSV | Transfer | March 22, 2021 | [7] |
| 7 | MF | Alfredo Morales |  Fortuna Düsseldorf | Transfer | April 7, 2021 | [8] |
| 8 | FW |  Thiago Andrade | Esporte Clube Bahia | Transfer | April 10, 2021 | [9] |
| 32 | DF |  Vuk Latinovich | Chicago FC United | 2021 MLS SuperDraft | May 1, 2021 | [10] |
| 43 | MF | Talles Magno | CR Vasco da Gama | Transfer | May 19, 2021 | [11] |
| 42 | MF |  Santiago Rodríguez | Montevideo City Torque | Loan | June 10, 2021 | [12] |
| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DF | Joe Scally | Borussia Mönchengladbach | $2 million | September 9, 2020 | [13] | ||
| MF |  Alexander Ring | Austin FC | $1.25 million in General Allocation Money | December 17, 2020 | [14] | ||
| DF |  Rónald Matarrita | FC Cincinnati | $500,000 of General Allocation Money | December 29, 2020 | [15] | ||
| FW | Gary Mackay-Steven | Heart of Midlothian | Free transfer | January 8, 2021 | [16] | ||
| GK | Brad Stuver | Austin FC | Free transfer | December 28, 2020 | [17] | ||
| FW |  Alexandru Mitriță |  Al-Ahli | Loan | October 8, 2020 | [18] | ||
| GK | Mason Stajduhar | Orlando City SC | Loan return | November 20, 2019 | [19] |
| Squad No. | Name | Nationality | Position(s) | Since | Date of birth (age) | Signed from | Games Played | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | |||||||||
| 1 | Sean Johnson (captain) | | GK | 2017 | 31 May 1989 | Chicago Fire FC | 163 | 0 | |
| 13 | Luis Barraza | | GK | 2019 | November 8, 1996 | Chicago FC United | 5 | 0 | |
| 25 | Cody Mizell | | GK | 2021 | 30 September 1991 | New Mexico United | 0 | 0 | |
| Defenders | |||||||||
| 3 | Anton Tinnerholm |  | RB | 2018 | 26 February 1991 | Malmö | 123 | 9 | |
| 4 | Maxime Chanot |  | CB | 2016 | 21 November 1989 | Kortrijk | 144 | 5 | |
| 6 | Alexander Callens |  | CB | 2017 | 4 May 1992 | Numancia | 155 | 9 | |
| 20 | Guðmundur Þórarinsson |  | LB | 2020 | 15 April 1992 | IFK Norrköping | 49 | 2 | |
| 2 | Chris Gloster | | LB | 2020 | 28 July 2000 | Jong PSV | 6 | 0 | |
| 24 | Tayvon Gray | | CB | 2017 | 19 August 2002 | New York City Academy | 15 | 0 | |
| 5 | Sebastien Ibeagha | | CB | 2021 | 21 January 1992 | San Antonio | 71 | 0 | |
| 32 | Vuk Latinovich | | CB | 2021 | 14 September 1997 | Chicago Football United | 3 | 0 | |
| 12 | Malte Amundsen | | CB | 2018 | 11 February 1998 | Vejle | 36 | 1 | |
| Midfielders | |||||||||
| 10 | Maximiliano Moralez |  | AM | 2017 | 27 February 1987 | León | 155 | 28 | |
| 43 | Talles Magno Bacelar Martins | | AM | 2021 | 26 June 2002 | Vasco da Gama | 18 | 3 | |
| 42 | Santiago Rodríguez | | AM | 2021 | 8 January 2000 | Montevideo City Torque | 26 | 4 | |
| 23 | Gedion Zelalem | | CM | 2020 | 26 January 1997 | Sporting Kansas City | 8 | 0 | |
| 14 | Juan Pablo Torres | | DM | 2019 | 26 July 1999 | Lokeren | 9 | 0 | |
| 7 | Alfredo Morales | | DM | 2021 | 12 May 1990 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 32 | 0 | |
| 15 | Tony Rocha |  | CM | 2019 | 21 August 1993 | Orlando City SC | 38 | 1 | |
| 16 | James Sands | | DM | 2017 | 6 July 2000 | New York Soccer Club | 76 | 0 | |
| 26 | Nicolás Acevedo | | DM | 2020 | 14 April 1999 | Liverpool Montevideo | 40 | 0 | |
| 55 | Keaton Parks | | CM | 2019 | August 6, 1997 | Benfica | 86 | 10 | |
| 80 | Justin Haak | | CM | 2019 | 12 September 2001 | New York Soccer Club | 3 | 0 | |
| Forwards | |||||||||
| 9 | Héber | | CF | 2019 | 10 August 1991 | Rijeka | 55 | 16 | |
| 8 | Thiago Andrade | | LW | 2021 | 31 October 2000 | Esporte Clube Bahia | 23 | 4 | |
| 11 | Valentín Castellanos | | CF | 2018 | 3 October 1998 | Montevideo City Torque | 109 | 42 | |
| 19 | Jesús Medina |  | RW / AM | 2018 | 30 April 1997 | Libertad | 116 | 24 | |
| 21 | Andres Jasson | | LW | 2020 | 17 January 2002 | New York Soccer Club | 21 | 0 | |
| 17 | Ismael Tajouri-Shradi |  | RW | 2018 | 28 March 1994 | Austria Wien | 99 | 29 | |
See main article: 2021 Major League Soccer season.
See main article: 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs.
See main article: 2021 U.S. Open Cup.
On July 20, US Soccer announced that the tournament would be cancelled for 2021 and would resume in 2022.[20]
See main article: 2021 Leagues Cup.
Last updated on December 12, 2021|-! 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|-|}