Photo Courtesy of U.S. Soccer
For the first time in several years, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup will once again feature every eligible Major League Soccer club. U.S. Soccer unveiled the format this week for the 112th edition of the country’s oldest soccer competition, confirming a 96-team tournament featuring all 27 U.S.-based MLS clubs alongside teams from the USL Championship, USL League One, MLS NEXT Pro and the amateur Open Division.
It represents another significant overhaul for a competition that has undergone plenty of changes in recent years, but perhaps the biggest headline is also the simplest: MLS is back in full.
All 27 eligible MLS clubs will participate in the 2027 Open Cup, with each entering in the Round of 64 in July. They’ll be joined at that stage by five seeded USL Championship clubs, while the tournament begins months earlier with 32 lower-division professional teams facing 32 amateur sides in the First Round.
The tournament will begin April 13 and 14, with additional First Round matches scheduled for April 20 and 21. From there, however, the Open Cup will operate on a dramatically different calendar than supporters have become accustomed to. The Round of 64 won’t arrive until July 8-11, followed by another lengthy break before the Round of 32 on Sept. 14-15.
U.S. Soccer says the tournament’s final five rounds will all take place after Labor Day in an effort to accommodate the evolving American professional soccer calendar. The Round of 16 date remains to be confirmed, while the quarterfinals are scheduled for Nov. 23-24, the semifinals for Dec. 1 and the Open Cup Final for Dec. 15. Instead of the relatively compact spring and summer tournament of years past, the 2027 Open Cup will stretch across essentially the entire American soccer season.
The structure of the field is changing with the calendar. Of the 96 participating teams, 32 will come from the amateur Open Division. Sixteen of those places will be earned through this fall’s Open Cup qualifying rounds, while another 16 clubs have received byes based on their performances in selected competitions during 2026.
Each of those amateur clubs will face a professional opponent in the First Round. The other half of the opening-round field will consist of 32 teams drawn from the USL Championship, USL League One and eligible independent MLS NEXT Pro clubs.
There are more eligible Division II and Division III professional clubs than available First Round places, however, meaning simply belonging to one of those leagues no longer guarantees participation. U.S. Soccer will use results from the 2026 USL Championship and USL League One seasons as part of the qualification criteria to narrow the field.
That adds another consequence to the closing months of the current USL season. League position won’t necessarily determine only playoff qualification and seeding anymore; for some clubs, it could determine whether they participate in the country’s national championship at all.
The clubs that survive April’s First Round will advance to a very different looking Round of 64 in July. That’s when all 27 U.S.-based MLS clubs enter the tournament alongside five seeded USL Championship teams, creating the first Open Cup field in several years to include the entirety of eligible MLS.
Those five Championship places will be awarded to the Players’ Shield winner, USL Championship Playoffs winner, Eastern Conference top seed, Western Conference top seed and the 2026 USL Cup champion. Those clubs, along with the MLS entrants, will receive hosting priority in the Round of 64. Beginning with the Round of 32, that advantage flips, with lower-division teams that advance receiving hosting priority.
Geography will continue to play a major role in determining who meets along the way. First Round pairings will be geographically matched with teams entering in the Round of 64, while later draw groups and pairings will also be constructed largely around geography. U.S. Soccer says random selection can be used where there isn’t a logical geographic fit, with venue availability, league schedules and other conditions potentially influencing the construction of draw groups.
Another change comes on the roster sheet, with matchday rosters expanding from 18 to 20 players. The tournament will also continue operating under its “one club, one entry” rule, which prevents MLS organizations from entering both their first team and an affiliated MLS NEXT Pro side. Eligible NEXT Pro players, however, may still appear for their organization’s MLS team under the competition’s roster regulations.
At the end of a tournament that will stretch from April into December is considerably more than a trophy. The 2027 Open Cup will feature a $1 million purse, while the champion will earn qualification to the Concacaf Champions Cup.
For Republic FC, the new format also gives the remainder of the 2026 season another layer of importance.
Republic’s exact route into the 2027 Open Cup has not yet been determined, but Sacramento has two potential paths. The first would allow the club to skip April entirely and join MLS in the Round of 64.
If Republic earns one of the five seeded USL Championship positions, by finishing as the Western Conference’s top seed, winning the USL Championship Playoffs or winning the 2026 USL Cup, Sacramento would automatically enter the competition in July. That would guarantee Republic a place in the tournament and immediately put the club into the portion of the bracket containing every eligible MLS team.
Otherwise, Sacramento would be competing for one of the 32 professional places available in the First Round. With U.S. Soccer confirming that 2026 league results will be used to determine qualification when the number of eligible professional teams exceeds the available slots, Republic’s final league position could carry Open Cup consequences beyond its impact on the USL Championship postseason.
Should Republic qualify through the First Round route, Sacramento would open against an amateur Open Division opponent in April. A victory there would send Republic into July’s Round of 64, where the 27 MLS clubs and five seeded Championship sides enter.
That is where the return of every U.S.-based MLS club becomes particularly interesting for Sacramento. With the competition continuing to organize much of its bracket around geography, the western portion of the tournament could once again create opportunities for Republic to face MLS opposition. The exact draw groups won’t be known until U.S. Soccer establishes the pairings, so there is no guarantee of any particular opponent, but bringing the entire American contingent of MLS back into the tournament dramatically expands the possibilities.
For Republic, those possibilities carry a little more weight than they might for most lower-division clubs. The Open Cup has produced some of the defining moments in Sacramento’s history, highlighted by the club’s run to the 2022 Final. It has also consistently offered Republic something the regular USL Championship calendar cannot: the opportunity to test itself directly against clubs from the country’s top division.
In 2027, that opportunity returns at full strength. Every U.S.-based MLS club will be there, amateur teams will still have their chance to produce an upset, and lower-division clubs that survive into the later rounds will have opportunities to bring higher-division opponents into their own stadiums.
For Sacramento, the road could begin against an amateur club in April or, with the right finish to 2026, Republic could find itself waiting alongside MLS until July. Either way, qualification for next year’s Open Cup gives Sacramento something else to play for as the current season reaches its final stretch, and once Republic gets there, the country’s biggest clubs will once again all be waiting.
