US Open Cup (soccer) placement for mls/USL Championship mens teams

penguin_pam

While watching the U.S. Open Cup, I noticed that MLS/USL Championship teams enter in the third round for the upcoming rounds? Why are they automatically placed in that round? Is there a group stage format they're being placed into?

Originally asked by chrisl-921fb74d on Stack Exchange (sports) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

There is no group stage. It is currently (2025) a 96 team single elimination tournament. That number of teams doesn't fit well into a single elimination bracket. To make it work, they give some teams byes with lower tier teams entering earlier. Division Teams Entering Entry Round MLS 16 Round of 32 USL Championship (Top 8) 8 Round of 32 USL Championship (Remaining 16) 16 Third Round USL League One 14 First Round MLS Next Pro 10 First Round Open Division 32 First Round In effect, the earlier rounds are qualifying games for lower tier teams, and the 'real tournament' begins in the Round of 32. To answer the original question, there are two factors at play. First, being in the top division,...

Full answer by bradimus: https://sports.stackexchange.com/a/30032 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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