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2024 US Open Cup: Which NPSL teams could qualify?

July 31, 2023 by Jake Sillick

Players from Tulsa Athletic and FC Tulsa battle for the ball in their 2023 US Open Cup match. Photo: Tulsa Athletic
Players from Tulsa Athletic and FC Tulsa battle for the ball in their 2023 US Open Cup match. Photo: Tulsa Athletic

The 2023 National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) season has reached the championship. With the all but the final game to go, we can take a look at which teams will have the highest priority of qualifying for the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

After years of either steady or increasing berth totals for teams between 2011 and 2018, the NPSL experienced its first decrease in tournament slots in 2019 going from 18 (22 after including last minute Play-in teams) to 14. This stayed steady for the 2020 tournament with 14 entrants before COVID-19 would cancel both the 2020 and 2021 tournaments.  It then decreased again over the last two years with only 10 entrants in the 2022 tournament and 8 entrants in the 2023 tournament. With expansion coming across the board from all professional leagues, it would seem likely that the number of berths for both NPSL and USL League Two could go down again or at best remain level. The final allocation will not be determined until the professional leagues have finalized their entrants in early January 2024.

NPSL’s CLASSIFICATION RULES

Heading into the 2024 US Open Cup, the NPSL has 92 teams that are eligible for the competition divided into four regions: South (26), Midwest (26), East (25), and West (15).

The first eight possible berths are awarded to teams that advanced deep into the 2023 NPSL playoffs. Slots one and two are reserved for the champion and runner-up, respectively. Slots three and four are given to the teams that reached the semifinals and teams five through eight are held by the remaining quarterfinalists. Teams finishing at the same round will be ordered by regular season points per game. The Top 8 teams are (this will be updated as the playoffs conclude):

  1. Tulsa Athletic (national champion, 2.3 PPG)
  2. Apotheos FC (national runner-up, 2.1 PPG)
  3. West Chester United SC (national semifinalist, 2.4 PPG)
  4. Crossfire Red (national semifinalist, 2.2 PPG)
  5. El Farolito (regional finalist, 2.8 PPG) 
  6. Steel City FC (regional finalist, 2.67 PPG)
  7. FC Motown (regional finalist, 2.60 PPG)
  8. Southern States Soccer Club (regional finalist, 2.3 PPG)

After that, the next spots are purely given out on a regular season points per game basis to the next team in the next region that gets a spot. This is ordered by the the number of teams in each region. For the 2024 Open Cup, since the South and Midwest have the same number of teams, when it is their turn collectively to put forth a team, the best remaining team in each region is compared by NPSL tiebreakers (avg. points, avg. GD, avg. GF) and then the tiebreaker winner gets the next spot, with the other team getting the spot after that. If a team declines the spot or is ineligible to take any spot, the next team in the region ranking gets the spot. What this means is if, for example, 11 NPSL teams qualify for the 2023 Open Cup, it will be guaranteed to be 3 teams each from the South, East, and Midwest regions, and 2 teams from the West region, even if it’s a team much further down a regional ranking compared to a team from another region.

UPDATE FOR THIS YEAR: While the handbook does say this, in practice, this is not how it works. NPSL will submit a list to US Soccer numbered 1st through 92nd and US Soccer will invite teams on that list in that order until the spots are allocated. This means if a team declines, for example the 11th team on the list which would be from the East region, US Soccer will then invite the 12th team on the list which is from the West region, not the East region. We have confirmed this process with US Soccer.

In the past, NPSL has usually received 10 or more slots. This past year was the first time in many years they received fewer than 10 spots in the First Round. Considering the league remained stagnant at 92 teams total, it is unlikely that NPSL will receive more than 8 spots, and could even receive fewer spots as the professional leagues continue to expand.

With all that out of the way, here are the 2024 NPSL US Open Cup berth rankings. With the exception of the very top of the list which will be listed as TBD until the playoffs conclude, it is final.

Priority Playoff Finish or Region Team PPG
1 National Champion Tulsa Athletic 2.3
2 National Runner-up Apotheos FC 2.1
3 National Semifinalist West Chester United SC 2.4
4 National Semifinalist Crossfire Red 2.2
5 Regional Finalist El Farolito 2.8
6 Regional Finalist Steel City FC 2.666667
7 Regional Finalist FC Motown 2.6
8 Regional Finalist Southern States Soccer Club 2.3
9 South/Midwest Duluth FC 2.833333
10 South/Midwest Lubbock Matadors SC 2.727273
11 East Annapolis Blues FC 2.5
12 West Napa Valley 1839 FC 2.2
13 South/Midwest Naples United FC 2.7
14 South/Midwest Des Moines United 2.5
15 East Kingston Stockade FC 2.3
16 West FC Arizona 1.7
17 South/Midwest Brownsville NPSL 2.272727
18 South/Midwest OKC 1889 FC 2.2
19 East Greenville United 2.2
20 West California Odyssey SC 1.7
21 South/Midwest Michigan Rangers 2.083333
22 South/Midwest Jacksonville Armada FC U-23 2
23 East Alexandria Reds 2
24 West Las Vegas Legends FC 1.7
25 South/Midwest Dakota Fusion FC 2.083333
26 South/Midwest West Texas FC 2
27 East Atlantic City FC 1.9
28 West San Ramon FC 1.6
29 South/Midwest Med City FC 1.833333
30 South/Midwest Corinthians FC of San Antonio 1.818182
31 East Jackson Lions FC 1.9
32 West Crossfire White 1.3
33 South/Midwest FC Milwaukee Torrent 1.8
34 South/Midwest Laredo Heat SC 1.727273
35 East Hersey FC 1.8
36 West Lions United FC 1.2
37 South/Midwest Appalachian FC 1.7
38 South/Midwest Cleveland SC 1.666667
39 East Hartford City FC 1.7
40 West Oakland SC 1.1
41 South/Midwest Georgia Revolution FC 1.5
42 South/Midwest Carpathia FC 1.333333
43 East Philadelphia Ukranian Nationals 1.6
44 West Sacramento Gold FC 1
45 South/Midwest Charlottetowne Hops FC 1.4
46 South/Midwest Erie Commodores FC 1.333333
47 East New York Shockers 1.3
48 West Sonoma County Sol FC 0.8
49 South/Midwest Tallahassee SC 1.4
50 South/Midwest Sunflower State FC 1.3
51 East Grove United 1.2
52 West FC Davis 0.5
53 South/Midwest Pensacola FC 1.4
54 South/Midwest Kansas City Sol 1.2
55 East Electric City Shock SC 1.1
56 West Oakland Stompers 0.5
57 South/Midwest Atletico de Miami Beach 1.4
58 South/Midwest Demize NPSL 1.2
59 East Northern Virginia United 1.1
60 West OSA Seattle FC 0.3
61 South/Midwest Denton Diablos FC 1.363636
62 South/Midwest Iowa Raptors FC 1.2
63 East Pennsylvania Classics 1
64 South/Midwest New Orleans Jesters 1.2
65 South/Midwest Minnesota TwinStars FC 1.166667
66 East FC Monmouth 1
67 South/Midwest Ehtar Belleville FC 1.1
68 South/Midwest Forth Worth Vaqueros FC 1.090909
69 East Virginia Dream FC 1
70 South/Midwest Global Soccer Pathways 1
71 South/Midwest Joy St. Louis Park 1
72 East Valeo FC 1
73 South/Midwest 865 Alliance 0.9
74 South/Midwest Akron City FC 0.833333
75 East Philadelphia Union DS 0.9
76 South/Midwest Reign FK 0.8
77 South/Midwest Georgia Storm 0.8
78 East Virginia Beach City FC 0.6
79 South/Midwest Austin United FC 0.727273
80 South/Midwest Club Atletico Saint Louis 0.7
81 East Syracuse FC 0.5
82 South/Midwest Arkansas Wolves SC 0.7
83 South/Midwest Miami Dutch Lions FC 0.7
84 East FC Frederick 0.4
85 South/Midwest LC Aris FC 0.583333
86 South/Midwest CF10 Houston FC 0.363636
87 East First State FC 0.3
88 South/Midwest Sioux Falls Thunder FC 0.5
89 South/Midwest Central Texas Coyotes FC 0.363636
90 East Torch FC 0.3
91 South/Midwest FC Columbus 0.25
92 South/Midwest Florida Roots FC 0

Filed Under: 2024 US Open Cup, Feature - Main, Feature - Qualifying, Featured Post - US Open Cup Qualifying, US Open Cup, US Open Cup Central, US Open Cup Qualifying Tagged With: 2024 US Open Cup

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