The Open Division Qualifying tournament for the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup has expanded and a new format is coming for the 2026 competition. The United States Soccer Federation made the announcement just hours before the Quarterfinals of the 2025 US Open Cup is set to begin (Preview here).
The Open Division Qualifying tournament is a single elimination competition which was open to any amateur club affiliated with US Soccer, except for teams in the “national leagues”, which are USL League Two (USL-2) and the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL). Now, all US Soccer-affiliated teams, including USL-2 and NPSL are able to compete. The teams that advance the farthest are awarded a spot in the following year’s US Open Cup. Last year, 14 teams punched their ticket to the tournament. Next year, that number has increased to 16. This is the most teams entering from the qualifying tournament since the competition was created 10 years ago.
For the 2026 US Open Cup, 32 Open Division teams will take part in the tournament. After 16 entries from the Open Division qualifying tournament, here are how the remaining 16 teams will be determined:
Going forward, US Soccer’s Open Cup Committee will decide which leagues and competitions will be worthy of a bye into the tournament. This includes national leagues (like USL-2 or NPSL), cup competitions, or local leagues.
As the federation transititions to this new format, 13 of the 16 remaining spots will be awarded to USL-2 and the NPSL. Nine of them for USL-2 and four of them to the NPSL. This is based on league membership numbers.
Three more teams will receive automatic entries into the 2026 US Open Cup: The 2025 USASA Amateur Cup champion (find our coverage of that tournament here), the 2025 champion from the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) Spring season, and the winner of the newly-created John Motta Trophy, awarded to the Open Division team that advanced the furthest in the US Open Cup. Since El Farolito SC won the $50,000 prize money by reaching the Third Round of the 2025 US Open Cup, they are the first club awarded the John Motta Trophy and have officially qualified for the 111th edition of the Open Cup next Spring.
With 16 entries from the Open Division qualifying tournament and 13 teams from USL-2 and NPSL, the Amatuer Cup and UPSL champion and the John Motta Trophy winner, that brings the total number of Open Division clubs to 32.
Registration for the Open Division qualifying tournament closes on Aug. 4.
The match windows for the qualifying tournament are as follows:
September 13-14, 2025
October 11-12, 2025
November 1-2, 2025
November 22-23, 2025
The John Motta Trophy was created by the U.S. Soccer Federation Adult Council. It is named for John Motta who is a member of the US Soccer Board of Directors. Motta was previously the president of the US Adult Soccer Association (USASA) from 2014-2024, the president of the New Hampshire Soccer Association from 1988-1998, and U.S. Soccer Vice President from 1998-2000.