Oakland Roots SC

Oakland Roots Sports Club is a professional soccer team based in Oakland, California, that plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship. The club was started in 2018 by Edreece Arghandiwal and Benno Nagel. It first took the field during the 2019–20 season in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and moved to the USL Championship in 2021. Home games are held at the Oakland Coliseum.

**History**

**Soccer in Oakland** Soccer has a long history in Oakland, going back to the late 1800s. Early activity in Northern California came from amateur clubs and the creation of the California State Football Association in 1902. In the early 1900s, British ship crews played matches in the Bay Area, which helped the sport grow. Professional soccer arrived in 1967 with the Oakland Clippers of the National Professional Soccer League. They won the league title that year and later joined the North American Soccer League (NASL). The Oakland Buccaneers joined the American Soccer League in 1976 but folded after one season because of money problems. The Oakland Stompers played in the NASL in 1978 but moved to Edmonton the next year.

**Founding and early vision** Oakland Roots SC was created by two Oakland natives, Edreece Arghandiwal and Benno Nagel, who both loved soccer and wanted to build something for the community. Arghandiwal, a marketing entrepreneur, was influenced by his family’s Afghan soccer background—his father managed a club and his uncle played for the national team. Nagel, a former professional coach with experience in Europe and the NASL, brought technical know-how. Nagel had long believed Oakland was a natural home for professional soccer. He pointed out that if a big match like Club América versus Chivas were announced at the Coliseum with short notice, it would sell out, showing how deeply soccer is rooted in the city. He stressed that the club’s success depended on community involvement, saying they got people interested by asking what they wanted to see.

The idea for the team came from talks between the two at a Bay Area Afghan-American soccer tournament. They saw a chance to start a professional club that truly reflected Oakland’s culture and diversity. They noticed the city’s strong but overlooked soccer tradition and its large youth player base, and they wanted a team that lived up to Oakland’s values on and off the field.