FIFA World Cup

US Soccer announced the format for the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup with some major changes due to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the resulting two month break from MLS during said World Cup. Because of that, the competition has been reduced to seven rounds instead of eight rounds as in recent years. As a result of that, the format will only result in 80 teams instead of 96 teams in the 2025 competition, and only 48 professional teams instead of 64.

As announced last January by MLS, only 16 US based MLS teams qualify for the US Open Cup this year, with teams that are not in CONCACAF Champions Cup and Leagues Cup automatically in, then filling out the rest of the field by Supporters Shield standings, excluding teams in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

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All MLS teams will enter in the Third Round (Round of 32), same as in 2025. Also returning from 2025 is that eight MLS teams will be seeded as home teams in the Round of 32, with the remaining eight teams unseeded as away teams. All draws prior to that round and all draws after the Round of 32 will be done in a randomized fashion to determine hosts, if both venues meet tournament standards.

However, as a result of the shorter tournament and smaller field, the USL Championship will also have to trim its field to 17 teams. They will use league standings to select these teams, all of which will be entered in the First Round. Also technically, both Division III leagues (USL League One and MLS NEXT Pro), also used league standings as well to qualify.

A new rule, although it is unclear if it will be a temporary or permanent change, does not permit “expansion teams” in the US Open Cup. They must have played a league season in 2025 to be in the competition. This will disqualify teams from all three lower division leagues, but it also means that there are only 15 eligible Division III teams in total. So while the goal was to have 16 teams from each division, this meant that the USL Championship (Division II) added a 17th team to the field.

David Applegate, US Soccer’s Director of Competitions, told TheCup.us that “the reduction in professional teams was directly tied to the need for the competition to run seven rounds to fit within the footprint of the professional league schedules while avoiding conflict with the World Cup when both players and some venues will not be available.”

What is permanent is two new rule changes. There is now a “one club-one entry” rule. As far as that goes for the pro leagues, this means that the highest division team from a club must be the one that is entered. Reserve teams will no longer be allowed, but affiliated teams will be accepted as long as they are not owned by the parent club and only have contractual relationship to loan players and other such things.

The other rule change is all numerical roster restrictions have been removed. Any and all eligible, registered players, subject to league roster restrictions and cup tying rules, are allowed to compete in the US Open Cup. One such restriction by in the past is normally loaned player deals must be of 90 days or longer to be eligible. Amateur teams from the qualifying rounds have also had restrictions on the maximum number of players on their team.

“The 80-team format is custom for 2026 based on the World Cup’s impact on venues, player availability and other resources,” said Applegate. “As we’re engaging our stakeholders on the format for 2027, we’ve heard from the leagues, teams and fans across all divisions that they want to be in the US Open Cup – so we’ll be starting from a place that accommodates expanded participation.

The schedule for the 2026 US Open Cup avoids all dates of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, and will be down to the semifinalists by late May, before finally resuming with the final matches in September. The final will be 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 full list of teams can be found below, along with the qualifying criteria. This will be the second year in a row that the defending champion will not be allowed to defend the title, as the champion is entered in the Concacaf Champions Cup and is thus excluded from the field.

Division I – 16 Teams entering in the Round of 32

Major League Soccer

Qualifying Criteria:

• 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, ranked based on 2025 Supporters Shield Standings. The top four teams from this list from each conference will be seeded as home teams.
• The next best teams in the Supporters’ Shield Standings that are not in the Concacaf Champions Cup will enter the Open Cup.

Atlanta United FC
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
St. Louis CITY SC
Sporting Kansas City

Division II – 17 teams entering in First Round

USL Championship

Qualifying Criteria:

• 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.

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
San Antonio FC

Division III – 15 teams entering in the First Round

MLS NEXT Pro

Note: 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, both returning, eligible teams will qualify.

Carolina Core FC
Chattanooga FC

USL League One

Qualifying Criteria:

Because fewer than 16 teams participating in 2026 Divison III leagues have results in the 2025 League Standings, all 13 returning teams otherwise eligible teams from the 2025 season will qualify.

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
Westchester SC

Open Division/Amateur – 32 teams entering in the First Round

Qualifying Criteria:

• 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 FC (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.; USL of Pa.) – 2025 USASA National Amateur Cup Champion