MLS reportedly will return all 27 US-based teams to the US Open Cup

MLS had limited participation since 2024 Open CupLeague decision to withdraw teams was controversialMajor League Soccer will allow all of its 27 US-based teams to participate in the US Open Cup next year, according to a report from Backheeled.The move would bring…

Originally published by The Guardian1 September 2026, 18:30Full licensed article

MLS had limited participation since 2024 Open Cup
League decision to withdraw teams was controversial

Major League Soccer will allow all of its 27 US-based teams to participate in the US Open Cup next year, according to a report from Backheeled.

The move would bring to an end a three-year period in which MLS withheld teams from the United States’ oldest soccer competition, a single-elimination cup that has been running continuously since 1914, with only two editions skipped (2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic). Like England’s FA Cup and other similar competitions, the US Open Cup involves teams at all levels of the soccer system, including amateur and semi-pro teams. MLS teams traditionally enter at the later stages, with an MLS team winning all but one edition of the Open Cup since the league started play in 1996.