The U.S. Soccer Federation confirmed Tuesday the match details for the First Round of the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the 111th edition of the historic tournament.
The Charleston Battery will host Florida side Badgers FC of the UPSL on Wed., March 18, kicking off at 6:30 p.m. ET at Patriots Point. The Badgers entered the tournament as an amateur side via the Open Division route, as the First Round is exclusively professional vs. amateur/semi-pro clubs.
Tickets for the game are on sale now via SeatGeek.com, the club’s exclusive digital ticketing provider. Season Members will be able to claim tickets to the three games for free via their Member portal on SeatGeek as a perk of their Membership.
Additionally, all 32 First Round matches will be streamed live, as CBS Sports returns as the multi-media rights partner for the 2026 competition. Matches not airing on CBS Sports platforms will be carried live on the U.S. Soccer YouTube channel.
Charleston make their entry into the tournament alongside 16 other USL Championship sides who qualified based on the 2025 regular season standings.
The 32 winners from the First Round will then face off in the Second Round on March 31-April 1. From there, the 16 teams that advance from the Second Round will face one of the 16 teams from Major League Soccer in the Round of 32 on April 14-15. A draw for the Round of 32 will be held live on April 2, when the matchups and subsequent round pairings will be determined.
The remaining 32 teams will play down to a field of four semifinalists in May before the competition breaks until the semifinals on September 15-16. The Open Cup Final is slated for October 21.
A field of 80 total teams will contest for a $1 million purse and a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. CBS Sports returns as the multi-media rights partner for the Open Cup.
The U.S. Open Cup format will feature seven rounds – one fewer than recent editions – to avoid overlap with the 2026 FIFA World Cup™ happening this summer. The field of professional teams was reduced from 64 to 48, with slots for each professional division allocated as evenly as possible.
U.S. Soccer additionally announced two rule changes for the tournament.
First, a one-club, one-entry rule applies to all divisions. Under this rule, a professional club must enter its highest-level professional team. For the Open Division, the National League qualifying track was eliminated and all amateur teams are entered directly via U.S. Soccer.
Second, all numerical limits on the number of players that can be eligible for a competition roster have been removed across all divisions. All players from a club are eligible to participate, and players can be added up to one day prior to a match – subject to league and U.S. Soccer player registration regulations as well as competition eligibility rules related to cup-ties, length of loan and disciplinary action.
2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Schedule
- First Round: Tuesday, March 17 – Thursday, March 19
- Second Round: Tuesday, March 31 – Wednesday, April 1
- Round of 32: Tuesday, April 14 – Wednesday, April 15
- Round of 16: Tuesday, April 28 – Wednesday, April 29
- Quarterfinals: Tuesday, May 19 – Wednesday, May 20
- Semifinals: Tuesday, Sept. 15 - Wednesday, Sept. 16
- Final: Wednesday, October 21