ATLANTA (January 27, 2026) – The 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup – U.S. Soccer’s annual club championship – kicks off with a 32-game, three-day First Round between March 17 and 19 made up exclusively of Pro vs. Amateur contests.
All 32 First Round matchups will be streamed live, as CBS Sports returns as the multi-media rights partner for the 2026 competition. Matches not airing on CBS Sports platforms will be carried live on U.S. Soccer's YouTube channel.
A pair of high-profile First Round encounters will air on Paramount+ and co-air on CBS Sports Network, as USL League Two champion Vermont Green FC hosts regional foe Portland Hearts of Pine (March 17) and FC Motown welcomes defending USL Cup champion Hartford Athletic to Newark, N.J. (March 18). Â Two additional matches will be available on Paramount+ and simulcast on CBS Sports Golazo Network, as Indy Eleven takes on the dangerous Des Moines Menace (March 17) and BOHFS St. Louis play host to USL League One power Union Omaha (March 18).
This is the third year in a row that sees the Open Cup First Round made up exclusively of Pro vs. Amateur matchups – again creating massive potential for dramatic outcomes and underdog storylines.
One of two games taking place in New England is a mouth-watering contest between hosts Vermont Green FC – the reigning USL League Two champions, back for a second Open Cup in the space of three years – and Div. III pros Portland Hearts of Pine (USL League One). Both clubs captured the imagination of fans, local and nationwide, and have the results on the pitch to match. Those include recent upsets in the Open Cup (Vermont Green beat pro side Lexington SC in their debut in 2024 and, last year, the Maine-based Hearts beat Div. II pros Hartford Athletic in our Second Round and reached the Semifinal of the USL League One Playoffs).
Farther south, Div. II pros Rhode Island FC, who knocked Portland Hearts of Pine out of last year’s Open Cup and reached the USL Championship’s Eastern Conference Final, will host USASA men’s league hopefuls in Cambridge, MA.-based CD Faialense of the Bay State Soccer League (USASA) – a throwback to the ethnic teams of old that ruled the Open Cup in the years between World War II and the founding of Major League Soccer in 1996.    Â
There’s an all-Pittsburgh affair where the amateurs of Steel City FC (USL League Two) face off against the city’s beloved Riverhounds SC. The historic Hounds, founded way back in 1998, were the only non-MLS team to reach the Round of 16 of last year’s Open Cup and are coming off a thrilling year in league play that saw them crowned kings of the USL Championship.
Two other historic pro sides will have their hands full in this First Round when the Richmond Kickers – of USL League One and U.S. Open Cup Champions of 1995 – and 2024 Open Cup Semifinalists Indy Eleven (of the USL Championship) take on Northern Virginia FC and the Des Moines Menace, respectively. Both amateur foes have featured former pro players in recent years during early round Open Cup play, with NoVa FC boasting former U.S. National Team goalkeeper Bill Hamid, an Open Cup Champion in 2013 with D.C. United, and the Des Moines Menace rolling out the likes of Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber, Ozzie Alonso and Bradley Wright-Phillips in last year’s run to the Second Round.
Two other Virginia-based teams are in action, with Loudoun United FC (USL Championship) the away side against reigning USASA National Amateur Cup Champions West Chester United SC, and Virginia Dream FC – the stylish UPSL upstarts – travelling to take on Carolina Core FC, one of only two MLS NEXT Pro teams in the First Round.
The 2026 Open Cup welcomes back the fabled giant-killing Bucks for the first time since 2018. Now known as the Flint City Bucks, they set the Open Cup alight back in 2012 with a huge upset over MLS’ Chicago Fire FC (and another in 2000 against the New England Revolution) back when they wore the name the Michigan Bucks (and the Mid-Michigan Bucks). They’ll be hosting USL League One (Div. III) side Forward Madison FC with high hopes of reviving those past Open Cup glories.
There is a clash of Open Cup legends among the four First Round games taking place in California. Sacramento Republic FC, who became the first Division II side to reach an Open Cup Final since 2008 when they beat four MLS teams to reach our 2022 Final, open their doors to El Farolito – the tournament’s beloved burrito boys and everyone’s favorite underdog (they were the farthest-reaching amateur side in last year’s Open Cup and once, in 1993, won the whole tournament under the name CD Mexico).Â
The Amateur teams participating in the 2026 First Round include the 16 survivors from last fall’s Open Cup Qualifying Rounds, reigning 2025 USASA National Amateur Champion West Chester United SC of Pennsylvania, the UPSL Spring Champion Tennessee Tempo FC and Northern California legends El Farolito, winners of the John Motta Trophy given to the amateur team who reaches farthest in the previous year’s Open Cup. There are also nine teams from USL League Two who qualified via last year’s league results and four more from the National Premier Soccer League (Cruizers FC will replace Hickory FC due to the 2025 NPSL champions changing leagues).Â
Their opponents from the Professional ranks will be 17 clubs from the Division II USL Championship, 13 from the Division III USL League One and two from MLS NEXT Pro (also Div. III).
The 2026 U.S. Open Cup format will feature seven rounds – one fewer than recent editions – to avoid overlap with the FIFA Men’s World Cup™ calendar. For the 2026 First Round, teams were paired on a geographic basis with the restriction that each professional team was matched with a team from the Open Division. Hosts were determined by random selection when each team applied to host with a venue that met the competition standard. Random selection was also used in cases where there was no logical geographic fit or there were more than two teams from the same proximity.
The 32 winners from the First Round will face off in a Second-Round matchup on March 31 or April 1. Each of the 16 teams that advance from the Second Round will face one of the 16 Division I professional teams from Major League Soccer who enter in the Round of 32 on April 14 or 15. Eight of the MLS teams will be seeded as home, and eight will be seeded as away ahead of this draw based on the qualifying criteria.
The final 32 teams will play down to a field of four semifinalists in May before the competition breaks until the semifinals on September 15 or 16. The Final match is slated for Wednesday, October 21.
The complete starting field of 80 teams for the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is competing for a $1 million purse, with a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup also up for grabs.
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
About the U.S. Soccer Federation
Founded in 1913, U.S. Soccer, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the official governing body of the sport in the United States. Our vision is clear; we exist in service to soccer. Our ambition, working across the soccer ecosystem, is to ignite a national passion for the game. We believe soccer is more than a sport; it is a force for good. We are focused in three areas: Soccer Everywhere, ensuring everyone, everywhere experiences the joy of soccer; Soccer Success, our 27 National Teams and pro leagues winning on the world stage; and Soccer Investment, maximizing and diversifying investments to sustainably grow the game at all levels. For more information, visit ussoccer.com/ourvision.
About the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup has crowned U.S. Soccer’s national champion since 1914. The history-filled tournament is conducted on a single-game-knockout basis and is open to professional and amateur teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. In 1999, the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U.S. was renamed to honor American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt. The 2026 U.S. Open Cup winner will earn a berth in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup and have its name engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy – one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports – now on permanent display at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas. Nashville SC of MLS is the defending U.S. Open Cup Champion. The 110th edition of the tournament concluded on October 1, 2025, with NSC defeating Austin FC to claim the Tennessee club’s first piece of major silverware.
The official website of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is ussoccer.com/us-open-cup. Fans can also follow the competition on X/Twitter and Instagram @OpenCup and Facebook @OfficialOpenCup.
