The 2025 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the 110th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, the knockout domestic cup competition of American soccer. It is organized by the United States Soccer Federation and will comprise 96 teams, 64 teams from all three professional tiers of the United States soccer league system and 32 amateur teams in the "Open Division". The competition is scheduled to begin on March 18 and culminate in the final on October 1. Los Angeles FC is the current champion, having won the 2024 edition but will not be defending the trophy.[1]
The full format was announced on January 28, 2025.[1]Major League Soccer (MLS) will send 16 teams who enter in the Round of 32; teams that are playing in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup are excluded from the competition. Instead, eight affiliated MLS Next Pro reserve teams and two independent teams will participate beginning in the first round.[2] MLS previously sent eight teams in the 2024 edition of the U.S. Open Cup and ten MLS Next Pro teams after it had attempted to withdraw all of its senior teams from the competition and was rebuked by U.S. Soccer.[3][4] The USL Championship will send all 24 of its teams, with the highest sixteen rated teams entering the Third Round and the eight lower-seeded teams entering in the first round alongside the 14 teams from USL League One. The 32 amateur teams will enter in the first round.[1]
Of the 27 American clubs in MLS, 24 will participate in the U.S. Open Cup directly or be represented by their MLS Next Pro squad.[3] The 16 direct participants were determined by their non-qualification for other competitions or their placement in the 2024 Supporters' Shield standings.[5]Atlanta United FC, Colorado Rapids, and expansion San Diego FC will not have any representation from their club in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup. Defending champions Los Angeles FC will be among the teams represented by their MLS Next Pro affiliate instead of the first team.[6][7] Half of the MLS entrants in the Fourth Round will host their matches, while the rest will play away. The MLS Next Pro teams will be able to field players from their senior MLS team's supplemental roster via loans. U.S. Soccer also adopted new rules for the competition that restricts the use of alternative venues and has random draws for hosting beginning in the Round of 16.[8]
Local: CD Faialense, Harbour City FC, Laguna United FC, New Jersey Alliance FC, NY Renegades FC, Soda City FC, Southern Indiana FC, Virginia Dream FC, Washington Athletic Club[1]
Early rounds
Bracket
The first three rounds of the tournament bracket are shown below, with bold denoting the winners of each match.[15]
The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 took place live on CBS Sports Golazo Network on April 17, 2025, performed by CBS Sports Golazo Network presenter Aly Trost Martin and U.S. Open Cup commissioner David Applegate. The teams were divided into eight broadly geographical groups named for the eight most-capped United States men's national team players who had also won a U.S. Open Cup: Cobi Jones, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jeff Agoos, DaMarcus Beasley, Carlos Bocanegra, Paul Caligiuri and Kasey Keller. The winners of the four-team mini-bracket will advance to the quarterfinals. The order in which teams were drawn for the round of 32 determined the priority order for home field advantage in the round of 16.[19][20]
The draw for the quarterfinals, semifinals and final took place live on CBS Sports Golazo Network on May 22, 2025, performed by CBS Sports Golazo Network presenter Claudia Pagán and U.S. Open Cup commissioner David Applegate. The teams were divided into eastern and western brackets. Home field advantage in the semifinals was determined by a draw to place the four teams in each bracket in priority order, with the highest remaining team in the competition at the semifinal stage playing their match at home.[23][24]
TNT Sports holds the rights to broadcast the Open Cup from 2023 to 2030, as part of a larger media rights agreement with U.S. Soccer.[25][26] The U.S. Soccer YouTube channel will broadcast all games from the first two rounds. On March 26, 2025, CBS Sports announced an agreement to exclusively broadcast all games beginning with the third round. All games will stream on Paramount+, with select games on the CBS Sports Golazo Network and CBS Sports Network.[27]
