ATLANTA (Jan. 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 on March 17-19 made up exclusively of Pro vs. Amateur contests. All matches will be streamed live, with CBS Sports returning 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.
Indy Eleven will host the Des Moines Menace on Tue. March 17 at 8 p.m. ET indoors at the Community Health Network Events Center on the Droplight Grand Park Sports Campus in Westfield. The match will air on Paramount+ and be simulcast on CBS Sports Golazo Network.
Season ticket members will receive tickets to the match as a part of their season ticket package.
$11 General Admission tickets will be available both online and at the Community Health Network Events Center on matchday.
The Boys in Blue advanced to the 2025 Open Cup Round of 32, where they fell in penalty kicks at MLS Supporters’ Shield winner Philadelphia Union after playing to a 1-1 draw in 120 minutes. In 2024, Indy Eleven advanced to the Open Cup semifinals after a 2-1 quarterfinal victory at Atlanta United of the MLS.
The Menace, from USL League Two, had former US Men’s National Team players Sacha Kljestan, Benny Feilhaber, Matt Hedges (Carmel H.S., Butler University, 2016 MLS “Defender of the Year”) and Dax McCarty, and former MLS players Ozzie Alonso and Bradley Wright-Phillips in last year’s run to the Open Cup Second Round.
TEAMS and FORMAT for 2026 U.S. OPEN CUP | #USOC2026
This is the third year in a row that the Open Cup First Round is exclusively Pro vs. Amateur matchups – creating massive potential for dramatic outcomes and underdog storylines.
The Amateur teams participating in the 2026 First Round include the survivors from last fall’s Open Cup Qualifying Rounds, nine teams from USL League Two who qualified via last year’s league results, and four from the National Premier Soccer League. 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 features 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 each professional team 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 also was 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 the Second Round 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 is slated for Wednesday, October 21.
The 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: Mar. 17-19
- Second Round: Mar. 31-Apr. 1
- Round of 32: Apr. 14-15
- Round of 16: Apr. 28-29
- Quarterfinals: May 19-20
- Semifinals: Sept. 15-16
- Final: Wed., Oct. 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 Nashville 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.
