Major League Soccer announced on Tuesday updated qualification criteria for 2025 and 2026 North American cup competitions.
That includes the continued participation in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup by MLS lower division teams from MLS Next Pro and a revamped Leagues Cup tournament featuring 18 teams from MLS and 18 teams from the Mexican first tier, Liga MX.
The Open Cup looked to be on its last legs in early 2024 after MLS sought to replace its first teams in the competition with developmental teams from MLS NEXT Pro.
A stand off took place between U.S. Soccer, which administers the tournament, and MLS, leading to a firestorm of opinions from fans and pundits about the sanctity of the Open Cup, which began play in 1914.
MLS commissioner Don Garber’s public comments about the realities of the Open Cup, a tournament that features lower division and amateur teams, set the tone for a divisive debate about calendar congestion and competition standards.
“We need to get better with the U.S. Open Cup,” Garber said in May 2024. “It’s just not the proper reflection of what soccer in America at the professional level needs to be.”
Just eight of the 29 MLS clubs participated in the Open Cup last year with Los Angeles FC winning the tournament over Sporting Kansas City. This year, 16 MLS teams will be part of the field and begin play in the round of 32, of which eight will host their opening matches. The 10 MLS NEXT Pro sides will enter the tournament in the first round.
LAFC won the Open Cup in 2024 (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
From the MLS side, according to MLS Executive Vice President of Sporting Product & Competition Nelson Rodriguez, the league has urged U.S. Soccer to improve travel reimbursements for participating clubs, and allow for more matches between amateur teams and professional sides.
“We don’t think teams should participate in the tournament at a financial loss,” Rodriguez told The Athletic last week. “We’d like to see improved venue and field standards enhance the game and more promotion of the tournament. We believe that the tournament has been improved for next year, and we give credit to U.S. Soccer for their willingness to listen and to take our point of view.”
But whether this new format saves the Open Cup is still unclear. Rodriguez said that it was “too early to tell” if this new iteration of the competition will continue beyond 2025. Additionally, a priority for MLS was to guarantee increased participation of NEXT Pro players moving forward.
“We think it’s really important. We think it’s important developmentally for a lot of our player pool,” Rodriguez said.
Of course, player workload has become among the sport’s chief concerns. There are more matches being played and official cup competitions than ever before. The expanded and revamped FIFA Club World Cup will take place this summer in the United States, giving players less time off in the summer months. World Cup qualification for the 2026 men’s tournament will also ramp up this year.
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Rodriguez called MLS’ approach to player welfare as “sensible” by stressing that no MLS team will play in more than two cup competitions in 2025. An overloaded schedule of midweek games running into weekend matches has been curtailed, as well.
“We’ve tried to take a sensible approach that still allows our clubs to have the competitive spirit, to try to win trophies, and that brings some order to player load and to schedule management.”
The Leagues Cup will be played from July 29 to August 3. Despite calls for matches to be played in Mexico from both fans and players from Mexican clubs, the tournament will remain on U.S. and Canadian soil. Last month, Liga MX president Mikel Arriola hinted at some changes that will, however, help Mexican sides compete on equal footing.
“We’ll play midweek so Mexican teams don’t struggle, and Liga MX games will be played on the weekends,” Arriola told reporters in Mexico in December.
The 2023 and 2024 versions of the tournament featured every team from both MLS and Liga MX. Mexican sides were in preseason and traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada for matches. The 2025 tournament has been cut down to a total of 36 clubs, including San Diego FC, which will begin its inaugural MLS season in February.
San Diego, and its marquee signing of Mexican international Hirving Lozano, was invited to the Leagues Cup because the Vancouver Whitecaps will participate in both the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the Canadian Championship.
“We opted for competitive reasons and for earning reasons that the Open Cup slot would go elsewhere,” said Rodriguez. “Given where San Diego is in proximity to the border, their highest profile player to date in ‘Chucky’ Lozano, we think it’s a fantastic opportunity for San Diego to introduce itself, not only to MLS, but to fans who certainly will cross the border and become fans of their club.”
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Generally speaking, Rodriguez believes that the changes to the 2025 Leagues Cup will make the competition stronger and positively impact the updated Open Cup.
“It goes back to what our fans have been telling us for several years, which is that they regard our strengths by how we do in an international competition,” Rodriguez said. “And so whether it’s Champions Cup or Leagues Cup or this year, we’ll also be blessed with two entrants into the new FIFA Club World Cup. Those are the best opportunities we have as the league to showcase our talents and our quality of play.”
(Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
