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):
- Tulsa Athletic (national champion, 2.3 PPG)
- Apotheos FC (national runner-up, 2.1 PPG)
- West Chester United SC (national semifinalist, 2.4 PPG)
- Crossfire Red (national semifinalist, 2.2 PPG)
- El Farolito (regional finalist, 2.8 PPG)
- Steel City FC (regional finalist, 2.67 PPG)
- FC Motown (regional finalist, 2.60 PPG)
- 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 |