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NEW YORK, NY–Major League Soccer announced the criteria for qualifying for domestic and regional cup competitions for the 2025 and 2026 seasons as well as the participants for the 2025 editions of the Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup, US Open Cup, and the Canadian Championship.
Concacaf will continue to set the criteria for its own competition. For Leagues Cup, the top nine teams in each conference will qualify to match the 18 Liga MX clubs.A modification for 2025 is due to Vancouver Whitecaps FC’s participation in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup and defending their Canadian Championship title, they will not participate in Leagues Cup 2025 and San Diego FC will take their place. The adjustment allows for all 30 MLS teams to compete in at least one, but not more than two, North American cup competitions.
Sixteen MLS and ten MLS NEXT Pro teams will compete in the US Open Cup. Of course, only US-based teams are eligible and will include teams not already participating in either the Conacaf Champions Cup or Leagues Cup for which nine MLS teams fit the criteria. Supporters’ Shield standings excluding teams who are in the Concacaf Champions Cup fill the other seven MLS slots.
The following ten MLS Next Pro teams will be participating in the US Open Cup: Carolina Core FC (Independent), Chattanooga FC (Independent), FC Cincinnati 2 (FC Cincinnati), Columbus Crew 2 (Columbus Crew), Inter Miami CF II (Inter Miami CF), LAFC2 (Los Angeles Football Club), Real Monarchs (Real Salt Lake), Sporting KC II (Sporting Kansas City), Tacoma Defiance (Seattle Sounders FC), and Ventura County FC (LA Galaxy). Below is the full list of teams and the cups they will be competing for:
Eastern Conference
Club Competitions
Atlanta United FC Leagues Cup
Charlotte FC Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Chicago Fire FC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
FC Cincinnati Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
Columbus Crew Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
D.C. United Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Inter Miami CF Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
CF Montréal Leagues Cup, Canadian Championship
New York City FC Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
New York Red Bulls Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Nashville SC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
New England Revolution Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Orlando City SC Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Philadelphia Union Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Toronto FC Canadian Championship
Western Conference
Club Competitions
Austin FC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Colorado Rapids Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
FC Dallas Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Houston Dynamo FC Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
LA Galaxy Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
LAFC Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
Minnesota United FC Leagues Cup, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Portland Timbers Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, Leagues Cup
Real Salt Lake Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
San Jose Earthquakes Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
San Diego FC Leagues Cup
Seattle Sounders FC Concacaf Champions Cup, Leagues Cup
Sporting Kansas City Concacaf Champions Cup
St. Louis City SC Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Vancouver Whitecaps Concacaf Champions Cup, Canadian Champions
COMMENT: Fans of fourteen teams will still be a bit disappointed they they won’t be participating in the US Open Cup. For FC Cincinnati, Columbus, Colorado, Inter Miami, and LA Galaxy; it will be for the second year running. The reduction of teams in the Leagues Cup from 47 to 36 is reasonable and this site awaits the format for 2025, but MLS’s desire to regularly compete with Liga MX side led to the fixture congestion that led to 21 US-based teams being unable to compete for the US Open Cup in 2024. As far as Chicago Fire fans are concerned, they will at least feel karma is on their side after seeing Sporting Kansas City and Seattle get to try for a record fifth US Open Cup last year and now the Fire getting a chance this year while the aforementioned do not.
