History of the U.S. Open Cup
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The
For a listing of all U.S. Open Cup champions, see the list of U.S. Open Cup finals.
AFA era
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Fall_River_Rovers.jpg/220px-Fall_River_Rovers.jpg)
Before the creation of the United States Soccer Federation, soccer in the United States was organized on regional levels, with no governing body overlooking regional soccer leagues. The first non-league organizing body within the United States was the American Football Association (AFA) which was incarnated in 1884. The AFA sought to standardize rules for teams competing in northern New Jersey and southern New York. Within two years, this region began to widen to include teams in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.[1]
Within a year of its founding, the AFA organized the first non-league cup in U.S. soccer history, known as the American Cup. Clubs from New Jersey and Massachusetts dominated the first twelve years. It would not be until 1897 that a club from outside those two states won the American Cup. Philadelphia Manz brought the title to Pennsylvania for the first time. Due to internal conflicts within the AFA, the cup was suspended in 1899, and it was not resumed until 1906. The conflicts within the AFA led to a movement to create a truly national body to oversee American soccer. Drawing on both its position as the oldest soccer organization and the status of the American Cup, the AFA argued that it should be the nationally recognized body.
In October 1911, a competing body, the
National Challenge Cup era
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dd/Dewar_trophy_1914.jpg/150px-Dewar_trophy_1914.jpg)
The competition dates back to 1914, when it was known as the National Challenge Cup. The actual tournament began play following FIFA sanctioning of the American Amateur Football Association (AAFA), which rebranded as United States Football Association (USFA). Following the provisional sanctioning of FIFA in 1913, USFA quickly attempted to earn full sanctioning with the creation of an official national cup competition, which was called the National Challenge Cup, the roots of the modern day Open Cup. In 1914, the USFA overlooked the
ASL Era
Throughout the latter part of the 1910s, the competition typically saw clubs from New York City or the
One of the first STLSL clubs to break through the domestic cup competition was
ASL vs. USFA conflicts
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/FallRiver_Marksmen_1921.jpg/220px-FallRiver_Marksmen_1921.jpg)
Towards the latter portions of the 1920s a period in American soccer known as the "American Soccer Wars" ignited. The Soccer Wars regarded the internal conflicts with the American Soccer League and their affiliated clubs participating in the National Challenge Cup. The debate involved whether the United States Football Association or the American Soccer League was the true chief organization of American soccer at the time, and consequently wrecked the reputation and possibly even the popularity of the sport domestically. The colloquial "war" has been considered responsible for the fall of the ASL, and the end to the first golden age of American soccer.[3]
The initial issue with the ASL had been the scheduling of the National Challenge Cup, which had been straining for the ASL season schedule. Consequently, the ASL boycotted the
In 1927, the issue intensified as ASL clubs were accused by FIFA for signing European players who were already under contract to European clubs. Due to the conflict and apparent corruption in the ASL, then USFA president, Andrew M. Brown traveled to Helsinki, Finland for the 1927 FIFA Congress in the hopes of removing any penalizations imposed on the ASL and USFA.[3] Other issues regarding the soccer league involved the closed league model and the lack of American soccer players dominating the league. It resulted in ASL owners wanting to run their soccer clubs more like Major League Baseball teams, as many ASL owners owned MLB franchises. According to owners of ASL clubs, they saw these rulings as restrictions imposed on themselves, including the National Challenge Cup.[4]
With the hope of breaking away from the National Challenge Cup, Charles Stoneham,[3] an owner of the New York Nationals proposed that the ASL would create their own tournament to determine the champion of the ASL, and thus ultimately determine the top American soccer club. This was the creation of early forms of playoffs culminating a regular season. Additionally, the proposal included expanding into the Midwest to include clubs from the Ohio River Valley and St. Louis regions, and create a new division for these clubs. Stoneham's plan involved having the two divisions compete in their own season, and the top clubs in each division playing in the ASL tournament to determine the ASL champion. Before the proposal, the National Challenge Cup was seen as the ultimate title in American soccer since most professional leagues in the United States focused on a specific region, rather than encompassing the entire country as a whole.[3]
The "American Soccer Wars"
The problem with this system was the fact that the American Soccer League was operating under a closed league model with a fixed number of franchises.
Support for the USFA from other national federations, along with financial disadvantages the ASL faced as an unsanctioned league, eventually convinced the ASL that it could not win this "soccer war" and should yield. The "war" between the USFA and ASL was finally settled in early October 1929.
Great Depression and collapse of ASL I
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/National_Champion_Stix_forward_line_%28April_1933%29.jpg/220px-National_Champion_Stix_forward_line_%28April_1933%29.jpg)
Just two weeks following the United States Football Association and American Soccer League settlement, the stock market
As the
In spite of the decline in the sport's popularity, several pockets of the country, primarily the Heartland and New England regions, as well as the New York City and St. Louis metropolitan areas,[11] continued to see excessive popularity of the sport, specifically with ethnic groups and expatriates. The popularity of soccer in these areas reflected on the Challenge Cup during the later Great Depression years, through the World War II years. Most clubs participating were either top amateur teams or semi-professional clubs that hoisted a handful of U.S. internationals, who worked part-time jobs.
World War II and ASL II
As
Post war era
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/06/Lamar_Hunt_US_Open_Cup_trophy.jpg/160px-Lamar_Hunt_US_Open_Cup_trophy.jpg)
With the fall of the original
In spite of the rise of the North American Soccer League, NASL clubs declined to participate in the tournament, fearing it would divert interest away from the NASL Playoffs, and that playing a mix of minor league clubs and amateur clubs might also detract interest.
Inner City dominance
Throughout the post-war era, the National Cup was heavily dominated by clubs based in
During the early to mid-1960s, the competition was heavily dominated between the
LA v. NY finals
Towards the latter portion of the 1970s into the 1980s, the National Cup featured a final more times than not between soccer clubs based in New York and Los Angeles, the two largest metropolises in the United States. Two of the strongest clubs during this time included the
MLS and the start of the modern era
Starting in 1995, professional clubs would retain their USSF sanctioning if their clubs agreed to participate in the tournament. The 1995 U.S. Open Cup featured a mix of amateur and professional teams, making it the first time in nearly 45 years that the two levels were integrated into Open Cup play; it is considered the beginning of the Open Cup's "modern" era.
The arrival of professional clubs on the scene dwarfed amateur clubs, and consequently, no amateur club has won or been to the Open Cup final in the MLS era. With the arrival of
Competition rebranded
In 1998, the United States Soccer Federation passed a motion to rebrand the tournament in honor of Lamar Hunt, who has been considered by many as one of the greatest patrons for the growth and development of professional American soccer. Hunt, who owned three MLS clubs at the time, was a key cog in creating MLS and its predecessors, the North American Soccer League and United Soccer Association. Since 1999, the tournament has been officially named the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Resurgence in popularity
For most of MLS' existence, league clubs could not draw the same crowds for Open Cup matches as they would for the regular season or playoff matches.
In spite of the disinterest in the Open Cup, some signs have indicated an upswing in the tournament importance and popularity.
Format changes
For the 2015 tournament, USSF announced that starting with the round of 16 they would use a fixed bracket. In the past, the bracket had been redrawn after each round to match regional teams against each other to save travel expenses. Now, in the round of 16, they would draw teams to a regional quarter of the bracket that would remain locked through the end of the tournament. The only exception was that no two teams from the same ownership group could play each other until the final. Since 2016, this scenario can only occur if at least one of the commonly owned clubs is amateur.
Through 2015, the amateur clubs have decided how to qualify their teams based on the number of allocated spots provided by USSF. The USSF then announced that starting with the 2016 tournament, the organization (USSF) would organize and control amateur qualifying. Qualifying would be completed in the fall of the previous year. This would not affect the upper division teams.[21]
Also from 2016 forward, lower-division professional clubs that are owned by higher-division professional clubs, or whose playing staff is managed by a higher-division professional club, would be barred from the competition.[citation needed]
COVID cancellations
In 2020, the U.S. Open Cup was canceled for the first time ever following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 field would have featured 100 clubs, 62 of them fully professional—both modern-era records.[22] U.S. Soccer initially announced that all 100 qualifiers would be invited back for 2021, but in February 2021, the federation backtracked and announced the tournament would be pared down to 24 teams due to likely schedule congestion.[23] The opening round was ultimately canceled, reducing the field to 16 teams; the entire tournament was ultimately canceled in July 2021, with U.S. Soccer focusing on a full field for 2022.[24]
Return
On January 25, 2022, U.S. Soccer announced that
MLS attempt to withdraw
On December 15, 2023, Major League Soccer announced that its teams would no longer participate in the U.S. Open Cup, starting with the 2024 edition, due to fixture congestion.[26] The league intended to send reserve teams from MLS Next Pro instead.[27] This would have been the first year since MLS's inception that its teams did not take part in the tournament.[26] However, on December 20, 2023, the United States Soccer Federation announced that it had denied MLS the necessary waiver to allow affiliated MLS Next Pro teams to play in the tournament.[27] An agreement between the two sides was tempered in mid-February and announced on March 1, 2024. It allowed eight MLS teams to participate with senior squads and eleven to be represented by MLS Next Pro teams. The teams participating in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup would not send teams to the Open Cup. Discussions continued to find a solution for 2025 and beyond.[28][29]
See also
- American Soccer League (disambiguation)
- History of soccer in the United States
- List of U.S. Open Cup finals
- List of U.S. Open Cup winning head coaches
- United Soccer League
References
- ^ "Allaway, Roger West Hudson: A Cradle of American Soccer". Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
- ^ Litterer, Dave (January 10, 2003). "1914 National Challenge Cup". The American Soccer Archives. TheCup.us. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer – 1929". The American Soccer Archives. Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ a b c Westervelt, Ted (October 5, 2010). "Doing the Same Thing Over and Over and Expecting Different Results". Soccerreform.us. Archived from the original on May 28, 2011. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ "1928 National Challenge Cup Results". TheCup.us. January 27, 2009. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ a b c Allaway, Roger (October 24, 2010). "What was the "Soccer War"?". BigSoccer. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ September 25, 1928 The Globe
- ^ November 4, 1929 The Globe
- ^ Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer – 1930". The American Soccer Archives. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer – 1933". The American Soccer Archives. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Litterer, Dave. "History of Soccer in St. Louis". American Soccer Archives. spectrum.sover.net. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved September 10, 2011.
- ^ "USOC History: 1946–1966". TheCup.us. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ "1970 U.S. Open Cup results". TheCup.us. August 1970. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ "Championships and Honors". Chicago Fire. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
- ^ Litterer, Dave. "The Year in American Soccer – 2006: U.S. Open Cup". The American Soccer History Archives. Archived from the original on November 5, 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2011.
- ^ Rogers, Martin (October 7, 2007). "Seeing the U.S. Open Cup as half-full". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Feuerstien, Daniel (May 27, 2009). "Fixing The US Open Cup And Looking into The Future". MLS Talk. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Dure, Beau (April 15, 2010). "Throwing open the U.S. Open Cup". SportsMyriad. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ a b Hakala, Josh (November 6, 2010). "State of the US Open Cup: After 97 years, is the tournament finally starting to arrive?". TheCup.us. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Clare, Steve (October 6, 2010). "2010 US Open Cup Final: Record crowd sees Seattle Sounders become first repeat US Open Cup champion since 1983 (Video)". TheCup.us. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ "USSF to take over entire qualifying process in advance of 2016 US Open Cup". TheCup.us. March 13, 2015. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ^ "2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Cancelled Due to COVID-19" (Press release). United States Soccer Federation. August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ "U.S. Soccer's Plans for an Abbreviated 2021 U.S. Open Cup". Sports Illustrated. February 8, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ "Schedule Announced for Next Edition of Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 2022". ussoccer.com. July 20, 2021. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ "Record-Setting 103 Teams Confirmed For 2022 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, 107th Edition of U.S. Soccer's National Championship" (Press release). United States Soccer Federation. January 25, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
- ^ a b "MLS to skip U.S. Open Cup, nation's oldest soccer tournament". mlssoccer.com. December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Bonagura, Kyle (December 20, 2023). "MLS teams must play in Open Cup - U.S. Soccer". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 20, 2023.
- ^ Carlisle, Jeff (February 19, 2024). "Source: 2024 U.S. Open Cup gets go-ahead under proposed new format". Retrieved February 20, 2024.
- ^ Goff, Steven (March 1, 2024). "MLS is back in the U.S. Open Cup, but not every club will participate". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 1, 2024.