Good news for soccer fans: All of MLS’ U.S. teams will return to the U.S. Open Cup in 2027
For the last three years, MLS was in a dispute with U.S. Soccer, which runs the Open Cup. That led to the league limiting how many of its teams played in the national championship.
With all the craziness in the soccer world, it can feel like there isn’t much good news out there. But this week, American fans are finally getting some.
MLS announced Wednesday morning that all 27 of its U.S.-based teams will compete in the U.S. Open Cup next year, returning the league to full standing in the national championship after three years of acrimony.
The league was in a protracted argument with U.S. Soccer, which runs the Open Cup, over a variety of factors from a lack of marketing (which MLS also failed at when its Soccer United Marketing arm held the rights for decades) to travel costs, revenue splits, and stadium standards.
This led the nation’s top circuit to withdraw many of its clubs from the tournament from 2024-26. There were attempts to send reserve teams, and to exempt teams in the Leagues Cup and/or Concacaf Champions Cup in the name of schedule congestion. The Union were one of those teams this year.
None of it held water with fans who value the Open Cup’s special place as the only American soccer competition in which teams from every level can play against each other, similar to England’s FA Cup and other national cup tournaments around the world.
There was even a rare public rebuke from U.S. Soccer, making the league’s stubbornness look even worse.
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Fans also value the Open Cup’s over 110 years of history, much of which was created in Pennsylvania. The state ranks No. 3 all-time for most Open Cup winners. Its famous teams down the decades include the Bethlehem Steel dynasty of the 1910s, and Philadelphia’s Ukrainian Nationals, German-Americans, and United German-Hungarians.
The list of great players is even longer: Archie Stark, Francis “Hun” Ryan, Walter Bahr, Walt Chyzowych, and Larry Sullivan — not just a great player and coach, but grandfather to the Union’s Quinn and Cavan Sullivan.
Larry’s son Brendan also played in the Open Cup in the 1990s, making three generations of the family to take part in the tournament.
In recent times, the Union have made three Open Cup finals: 2014, 2015, and 2018. But they haven’t yet joined their predecessors in lifting the trophy. Fans will hope the Sullivans and the club’s other academy products finally break through next year.
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A pair of tournament rules changes could help the Union’s odds. Game day rosters will expand from 18 to 20 players, and MLS teams can pick their squads from a wider range of first-team and reserve-squad prospects.
Next year’s Open Cup will be played in the midst of MLS changing its schedule to a winter-centric one. The Open Cup will change some too, though it will remain based on the calendar year for now.
MLS teams will enter the tournament in the round of 64, which will be played in July — during MLS teams’ preseasons for the 2027-28 campaign. Notably, all MLS teams will be at home for that round, which will raise the ire of fans of lower-division clubs hoping for upsets.
But a reward will come after that: any lower-division team that makes the round of 32 will have priority to host. And there should be some lower teams still alive at that point, since having 27 MLS teams in a round of 64 means there won’t be a MLS team in every game.
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The round of 32 will be played in September. The round of 16 isn’t set yet, but the remainder of the tournament is: Quarterfinals in late November, semifinals on Dec. 1, and the final on Dec. 15. That could make for a cold title game, since it’s on a Wednesday night. But it could also be memorable.
“The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is one of the most powerful platforms we have to showcase what makes American soccer special,” U.S. Soccer chief operating officer Dan Helfrich said in a statement. “When you bring various levels of the soccer community together, you create a connected, competitive environment that moves the sport forward and gives fans the drama of knockout soccer.”
