U.S. Soccer announced today the format, schedule and field of teams for the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which will mark the 111th edition of U.S. Soccer's national club championship.
The historic competition, featuring elite amateur and professional soccer teams from across the country, will begin in mid-March and conclude with the tournament final on Oct. 21.
A field of 80 teams will contest for a $1 million purse with a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup also up for grabs. CBS Sports will return as the multi-media rights partner for the 2026 competition.
The U.S. Open Cup format will feature seven rounds -- one fewer than recent editions -- to avoid overlap with the FIFA World Cup 26 calendar. Because the competition features one fewer round than recent editions, the field of professional teams has been reduced from 64 to 48 with slots for each professional division allocated as evenly as possible. League standings will serve as qualifying criteria to determine which professional teams are eligible, therefore all teams participating in the 2026 U.S. Open Cup must have played a league season in 2025.
In addition to the qualifying criteria for the professional divisions, the competition has adjusted two rules to align with the current ecosystem for professional and amateur clubs. First, a one-club, one-entry rule applies to all divisions. Under this rule, a professional club must enter its highest-level professional team. For the Open Division, the National League qualifying track was eliminated and all amateur teams are entered directly via U.S. Soccer.
Second, all numerical limits to the number of players that can be eligible for a competition roster have been removed across all divisions. All players from a club are elgiible to participate, and players can be added up to one day prior to a match - subject to league and U.S. Soccer player registration regulations as well as competition eligibility rules related to cup-ties, length of loan and disciplinary action.
The First Round will be played from March 17-19 and will continue its format of 32 matches featuring teams from the Open Division facing off against a professional opponent. The amateurs will face off against one of 17 professional teams from Division II or 15 professional teams from Division III. The 32 winners from the First Round will then face off in a Second Round matchup on March 31 or April 1.
Each of the 16 teams that advance from the Second Round will face one of the 16 Division I professional teams from Major League Soccer in the Round of 32 on April 14 or 15. Eight of the MLS teams will be seeded as home and eight will be seeded as away ahead of this draw based on qualifying criteria.
The final 32 teams will play down to a field of four semifinalists in May before the competition breaks until the semifinals on September 15 or 16. The final match is slated for Wednesday, Oct. 21.
2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule
- First Round: Tuesday, March 17 – Thursday, March 19
- Second Round: Tuesday, March 31 – Wednesday, April 1
- Round of 32: Tuesday, April 14 – Wednesday, April 15
- Round of 16: Tuesday, April 28 – Wednesday, April 29
- Quarterfinals: Tuesday, May 19 – Wednesday, May 20
- Semifinals: Tuesday, Sept. 15 - Wednesday, Sept. 16
- Final: Wednesday, October 21
The First and Second Round draws and schedule will be announced by U.S. Soccer in January. The first live draw will be held Tuesday, April 2 when the Round of 32 and subsequent round pairings will be determined. The overall format, draw groups and pairings will be based on geography, along with the basic mathematic principles of a single-elimination competition. Random selection will be used to solve a lack of logical geographic fit. Draw groups may be created to account for venue availability in any round, based on the league schedule of competing teams or other conditions per tournament regulations.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is U.S. Soccer's Club Championship and has crowned a champion annually since 1914 (with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19). The historic tournament is conducted on a single-game, knockout basis and open to all professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the longest running national soccer competition in the United States and the world's third longest continuously run national cup tournament. It is the only competition in USA-based team sports where amateurs have the chance to play professionals in direct competition.
Division I Qualifying Criteria (16 MLS teams entering in the Round of 32)
- Teams participating in Concacaf Champions Cup are excluded from the Open Cup
- Teams not participating in the 2026 Leagues Cup qualify for the Open Cup. The top four teams from this list from each conference will be seeded as home teams based on 2025 league standings for the Round of 32 draw (pending venue availability at a primary or approved secondary venue).
- The next best teams in the Supporters’ Shield Standings that are not in the Concacaf Champions Cup will enter the Open Cup.
Round of 32: Atlanta United, Austin FC, Charlotte FC, Chicago Fire FC, Colorado Rapids, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Houston Dynamo FC, Minnesota United FC, New England Revolution, New York City FC, Orlando City SC, Red Bull New York, San Jose Earthquakes, Sporting Kansas City and St. Louis CITY FC
Division II Qualifying Criteria (17 USL Championship teams entering in First Round)
- 2025 League Standings will be used to determine Open Cup qualifiers
- Positions allocated evenly between East & West Conferences based on conference standing, with total points serving as a tiebreaker in the case of an odd number of teams
Round One: Charleston Battery, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, Detroit City FC, El Paso Locomotive FC, FC Tulsa, Hartford Athletic, Indy Eleven, Lexington SC, Loudoun United FC, Louisville City FC, New Mexico United, Orange County SC, Phoenix Rising FC, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Rhode Island FC, Sacramento Republic FC and San Antonio FC
Division III Qualifying Criteria (15 teams entering in First Round)
MLS NEXT Pro (two teams entering in First Round)
- Players from 15 MLS NEXT Pro teams affiliated with Division I entrants may appear in the competition for their MLS Division I affiliate in the Round of 32 (subject to competition roster regulations)
- MLS NEXT Pro teams that are part of a club that plays in Division I Major League Soccer are not eligible based on the one club, one entry principle.
- Because fewer than 16 teams participating in 2026 Division III leagues have results in the 2025 League Standings, all returning, eligible teams will qualify.
Round One: Carolina Core FC and Chattanooga FC
USL League One (13 teams entering in First Round)
- Because fewer than 16 teams participating in 2026 Divison III leagues have results in the 2025 League Standings, all returning, eligible teams will qualify.
Round One: AV ALTA FC, Charlotte Independence, Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, FC Naples, Forward Madison FC, Greenville Triumph SC, One Knoxville SC, Portland Hearts of Pine, Richmond Kickers, South Georgia Tormenta FC, Spokane Velocity FC, Union Omaha and Westchester SC
Open Division/Amateur Qualifying Criteria (32 teams entering in First Round)
- Half of the Open Division slots have been allocated to teams advancing from the Qualifying Rounds played in Fall 2025.
- Half of the Open Division slots have been filled with teams awarded byes into the First Round based on strong performance in 2025 competitions.
2026 Qualifying Rounds Participants (16)
- ASC New Stars (Houston, Texas; Houston Football Association)
- Azteca FC (Denver, Colo.; Colorado Premier League)
- Badgers FC (Boynton Beach, Fla.; UPSL)
- BOHFS St. Louis (Saint Louis, Mo.; Midwest Premier League)
- CD Faialense (Winthrop, Mass.; Bay State Soccer League)
- FC America CFL Spurs (Orlando, Fla.; UPSL)
- Kalonji Pro-Profile (Dacula, Ga.; UPSL)
- Laguna United FC (Laguna Niguel, Calif.; UPSL)
- NY Renegades FC (Jericho, N.Y.; UPSL)
- Red Force (Miami, Fla.; Premier Futbol League)
- San Ramon FC (San Ramon, Calif.; The League for Clubs)
- SC Vistula Garfield (Garfield, N.J.; APSL)
- Southern Indiana FC (Corydon, Ind.; UPSL)
- Steel City FC (Pittsburgh, Pa.; USL League Two)
- Valley 559 FC (Fresno, Calif.; UPSL)
- Virginia Dream FC (Arlington, Va.; UPSL)
Earned Byes to First Round via League/Competition Play (16)
- Asheville City SC (Asheville, N.C.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Des Moines Menace (Des Moines, Iowa) – USL League Two Qualifier
- El Farolito (NPSL - San Francisco, Calif.) – 2025 John Motta Trophy Winner
- FC Motown (Morristown, N.J.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Flint City Bucks (Flint, Mich.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Flower City Union (Rochester, N.Y.) – NPSL Qualifier
- Hickory FC (Hickory, N.C.) – NPSL Qualifier
- Laredo Heat SC (Laredo, Texas) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Little Rock Rangers (Little Rock, Ark.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Michigan Rangers (Hudsonville, Mich.) – NPSL Qualifier
- Northern Virginia FC (Leesburg, Va.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Ristozi FC (Baltimore, Md.) – NPSL Qualifier
- Tennessee Tempo FC (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) – UPSL Spring Champion
- Ventura County Fusion (Ventura, Calif.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- Vermont Green FC (Burlington, Vt.) – USL League Two Qualifier
- West Chester United SC (West Chester, Pa.; United Soccer Leage of Pennsylvania) – 2025 USASA National Amateur Cup Champion
