When we talk about American soccer, most of us don’t appreciate just how far back it goes. For many, it didn’t hold much legitimacy until 1996 when MLS began, and even then it took time to get going.
However, soccer has been played in America for over 100 years, and the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup has been around for most of it. It is the oldest soccer competition in America, first contested in 1914 and taking place every single year since, even throughout the two world wars – although COVID put a stop to it in 2020 and 2021.
Nevertheless, if anyone tells you American soccer has no history, tell them about the US Open Cup.
MLS fans have mixed feelings on it, largely because MLS themselves haven’t always treated the cup with the respect it deserves. This is probably because they don’t control it or make large sums of money from it, but by side-lining it in the way they do they damage US soccer as a sport. Not to mention denying fans a spectacle.
The US Open Cup is one of those competitions where anything can happen. It’s a knockout competition so small teams can go on crazy runs of good form/luck and cause big upsets. They call these ‘Cinderella runs’ and they are a recipe for drama and excitement.
For the clubs themselves, winning the cup comes with plenty of benefits, such as prize money, an automatic bid to the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and, of course, the prestige of winning a major trophy and legitimately being able to call yourself the best soccer club in the country—until next year, anyway.
I’ll take you through everything you need to know about it here.
*Last Update: 26th June 2026
Which Teams Take Part?
The interesting thing about the US Open Cup is that pretty much any soccer team in the US can take part. They don’t even have to be professional.
If you know English football then the FA Cup would be a good comparison.
Amateur and semi-professional teams from leagues such as the National Premier Soccer League, United Premier Soccer League and USL League Two, up through USL League One, the USL Championship, eligible MLS NEXT Pro sides and MLS all take part.
This is why it’s such a fantastic competition: it’s open to everyone, and technically, anyone stands a chance of winning it.
Some teams enter the competition at different stages based on the league they are in, as well as any byes they have from their performance in the previous season, but they can all enter at some point.
Teams interested in participating must adhere to U.S. Soccer’s entry guidelines and pay fees of around $500 dollars, but provided they meet the criteria they are in.
MLS involvement has been limited in recent times compared with the past, although 16 MLS teams still take part in the 2026 competition. This sort of thing is exactly why it is unfairly seen by some as a second rate trophy for lesser clubs – despite MLS teams usually winning it.
US Open Cup Format
Like many longstanding competitions, the format has been altered over the years and will probably be changed again in the future.
As of 2026 though, it worked like this.
Qualifying Rounds
This is when the smallest clubs compete for a place in the competition proper. To get through this stage is a huge deal for the small clubs that take part, equivalent to winning a trophy.
Many MLS fans don’t even know these qualifying rounds take place.
For the 2026 tournament, 145 clubs played for 16 qualifying places across four different qualifying rounds. Another 16 Open Division places were awarded as byes into the tournament proper.
The qualifying clubs were split into 16 regional pools to reduce travel and costs, with matchups and byes decided by a combination of geographical considerations and random selection. Each game is a knockout, so a winner must be decided with extra time and penalties used if the score is tied at 90 minutes.
The four qualifying rounds take place as follows:
| Round | Teams Involved | Teams Progressing |
|---|---|---|
| First Qualifying Round | 44 teams played 22 matches, with 101 clubs receiving byes | 22 winners joined the 101 bye teams |
| Second Qualifying Round | 118 teams played 59 matches, with 5 clubs receiving byes | 59 winners joined the 5 bye teams |
| Third Qualifying Round | 64 teams | 32 teams progressed |
| Fourth Qualifying Round | 32 teams | 16 teams progressed to the tournament proper |
How many qualifying rounds are required is dictated by how many teams enter so it is different each year.
The way in which teams fall geographically means some clubs can start at different stages. For 2026, 44 teams started in the First Qualifying Round, while 101 received a bye to the Second Qualifying Round. Five clubs then received a bye through to the Third Qualifying Round.
However it is handled from one year to the next, the teams left at the end will progress to the competition proper. For 2026, that means 16 teams.
Tournament Proper
This is where the competition really begins in most people’s eyes.
The 16 teams from the qualifying rounds plus the 16 Open Division teams with automatic byes join 32 professional teams for the First Round of the tournament proper. This creates 64 teams drawn from the Open Division, USL Championship, USL League One, and MLS Next Pro.
The exact make up of the 64 shifts and changes, but for 2026 the First Round is made up of 32 Open Division teams, 17 USL Championship teams and 15 Division III teams from USL League One and MLS NEXT Pro.
They play each other once continuing the knockout format explained earlier, so that 32 teams progress to the Second Round. In the Second Round, those 32 teams play each other to eliminate another 16 teams, and from that point on, it goes like this:
| Round | Remaining Teams | New Teams Entering | Next Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Round | 32 Open Division teams | 17 USL Championship teams and 15 Division III teams | 32 teams progress |
| Second Round | 32 First Round winners | None | 16 teams progress |
| Round of 32 | 16 Second Round winners | 16 MLS teams | 16 teams progress |
| Round of 16 | 16 Round of 32 winners | None | 8 teams progress |
| Quarter Finals | 8 Round of 16 winners | None | 4 teams progress |
| Semi Finals | 4 Quarter Final winners | None | 2 teams progress |
| Final | 2 Semi Final winners | None | 1 team wins |
So the stronger, more established teams join as the competition progresses.
This is the current format but it may well change in the not too distant future. MLS tried to remove all clubs in the league from the US Open Cup ahead of the 2024 competition, citing fixture congestion as the reason. This was knocked back by the U.S Soccer Federation, but MLS involvement has still been reduced. For 2026, 16 MLS teams enter in the Round of 32.
This is unlikely to be a long terms solution so I would expect more changes to come.
Prizes
The financial rewards aren’t particularly eye catching for the U.S Open Cup. This is partly why the MLS has shown less interest in it. There are other benefits though.
The most recent financial payouts are as follows:
- $50,000 bonus – Teams that advanced the furthest from their respective divisions regardless of when they went out. This rewards the teams that performed best based on where they started from, not where they finished.
- $250,000 – Runner up
- $600,000 – Cup Winner
The winner also receives an automatic place in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. This is seen as more prestigious by most MLS enthusiasts and there is more money to be won as well as providing a bigger stage for the competing clubs.
History: Why is it Called Lamar Hunt?
You might recognise the name, Lamar Hunt.
Hunt was a huge promoter of American football, soccer, and tennis. He helped found the MLS in 1993, as well as the North American Soccer League that came before it. He founded the NFL team, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the MLS team, the Kansas City Wizards. He also owned two other MLS teams (although he didn’t found them): Columbus Crew and FC Dallas.
Lamar Hunt died in 2006, but in 1999, the US Open Cup was renamed in his honor in recognition of everything he had done for soccer in the USA. That is why it is now called the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.
The competition itself started long before that though.
It was in the 1913-1914 season that the first US Open Cup took place, making it well over 100 years old. It was called the National Challenge Cup back then, and it was remarkable in being the only truly national competition of its kind.
Travel across such a huge country was incredibly difficult back in the 1900s, so most competitions were held regionally. However, the US Soccer Federation which ran the competition (then called the US Soccer Football Association), was trying to promote the sport across the whole of America, so they needed the US Open Cup to be national.
They have managed the competition for the entirety of its existence apart from a brief period between 1985 and 1995. when the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) took the reigns.
Winners
Understandably, many of the previous winners of the US Open Cup were clubs that no longer exist.
For example, the record number of wins by any single team is 5. The first of those is Bethlehem Steel who folded in 1930, and the second is Maccabee Los Angeles, who were founded in 1971 and folded in 1982.
That said, Seattle Sounders, Chicago Fire, and Kansas City Wizards are all on 4 wins apiece, so we could see an existing team match or even exceed the record in the coming seasons.
We are certainly unlikely to see a winner from outside the MLS in any case.
In fact, only 3 teams from leagues outside MLS have even made it to the US Open Cup final since 1996:
- Rochester Rhinos – 1996 and 1999*
- Charleston Battery – 2008
- Sacramento Republic FC – 2022
*The Rochester Rhinos actually won it in 1999, making them the only non-MLS club to take home the cup during the MLS era.
This is despite MLS teams reducing their involvement in the competition, which just shows how wide the gap is becoming between MLS clubs and those in lower leagues.