2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Format and Schedule Finalized
Tournament Kicks Off May 7-8 with Modern-Era Record Number of Professional Clubs Entered;
Winners of Fourth Qualifying Round on April 6-7 Will Complete the Field
CHICAGO (January 31, 2019) – U.S. Soccer has finalized the format and schedule for the106th edition of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, U.S. Soccer's National Championship. The 2019 tournament kicks off May 7-8 with 19 First Round games and features a total of 84 teams from all levels, culminating in August with America’s soccer champion lifting the Open Cup trophy after eight rounds of single-elimination play.
A total of 32 Open Division squads (clubs from the National Premier Soccer League, USL League Two, those advancing from four rounds of local qualifying played between September 2018 and April 2019, and the 2018 U.S. Adult Soccer Association National Amateur Cup champion Bavarian SC from Milwaukee, Wis.) will enter First Round action in early May. They will be joined by the six eligible members of the newly-sanctioned Division III professional circuit, USL League One.
Twenty-five teams from the newly-renamed professional Division II USL championship (formerly the United Soccer League) will take the field starting in the Second Round on May14-15.
The Third Round takes place on May 29, and its winners will be joined by the 21 U.S.-based Division I Major League Soccer clubs in the Fourth Round on June 12.
In another indication of the unprecedented growth of professional soccer in the United States, 52 pro teams –a modern-era record (1995 to present) –will play in this year’s competition. The previous record was 47, set in 2015.
The 2019 U.S. Open Cup winner will earn $300,000 in prize money, a berth in the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League and have its name engraved on the Dewar Challenge Trophy–one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports–now on display at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas. The runner-up will earn $100,000, while the team that advances the furthest from each lower division will take home a $25,000 cash prize.
