U.S. Soccer today revealed the MLS and Next Pro teams involved in the 2025 edition of the U.S. Open Cup, and Atlanta United is notably missing. The Five Stripes are one of 14 MLS teams who will miss out on the country’s oldest cup competition, after being one of only 8 involved in the revised format in 2024.
10 teams will also represent MLS Next Pro in the competition, and Atlanta United 2 is also absent from that list. 96 teams total will compete.
With the prior conversation about the Leagues Cup format possibly changing in 2025 to only include select teams, the exclusion from the Open Cup presumably means Atlanta United will be involved in the summer tournament between MLS and Liga MX teams. Leagues Cup is set to run from July 29th through August 31st.
Atlanta United had a tough run in 2024’s Open Cup, where they were eliminated by USL Championship’s Indy Eleven in the quarterfinals. LAFC would go on to win the tournament, defeating Sporting Kansas City 3-1 in the final.
Below are the pertinent dates for the 2025 U.S. Open Cup and the MLS and Next Pro teams that will be able to participate.
MLS teams
- Austin FC
- Charlotte FC
- Chicago Fire FC
- D.C. United
- FC Dallas
- Houston Dynamo FC
- Minnesota United
- Nashville SC
- New England Revolution
- New York City FC
- New York Red Bulls
- Orlando City
- Philadelphia Union
- Portland Timbers
- San Jose Earthquakes
- St. Louis CITY SC
Next Pro teams
- Carolina Core FC
- Chattanooga FC
- Columbus Crew 2
- FC Cincinnati 2
- LAFC 2
- Inter Miami CF II
- Real Monarchs
- Sporting KC 2
- Tacoma Defiance
- Ventura County FC
- First Round – March 18-20
- Second Round – April 1-2
- Third Round – April 15-16
- Round of 32 – May 6-7
- Round of 16 – May 20-21
- Quarterfinals – July 8-9
- Semifinal – Sept. 16-17
- Final – Oct. 1
Let us know below how you feel about the format and selections for this year’s U.S. Open Cup!
Fuck Leagues Cup
While I’m bummed at this. From an overall perspective I think it’s good for the organization this year.
Love USOC. Hate Leagues cup. But this pretty much ensures we are only focusing on one competition at a time. Feels like a good thing for a new manager trying to overhaul a system to only have to focus on one single competition.
Let’s just stop it with all the different cups. Driving me crazy. More is absolutely not better in my opinion.
I’m very disappointed that the 2s did not get a chance to play in the USOC. This would have been an excellent experience for our younger players.
Leagues Cup…yuck. Wish this competition would go away.
what a waste…even with the rumored additions, Atlanta would definitely have a better chance of winning the US Open Cup then the stupid League Cup
Yeah. Kinda liking this.
To be honest, all these “side” competitions are just ways to exhaust and potentially hurt the key role which are the matches for MLS. Being in one vs. 3, that’s fine.
Still absolutely disgusted by mls and us soccer. Pretending that doubling the amount of mls teams involved is a huge improvement when it should be 100% participation. Gonna avoid all leagues cup matches so they don’t get my viewership and avoid any mls teams in the open cup
Go Battery!
totally fine with this. focus on the new manager, new roster, new vibes. fixture congestion is a distraction this year, so i’m fine being left out here.