See main article: 2023 U.S. Open Cup.
| Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualification | |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Other Titles: | U.S. Open Cup |
| Country: | United States |
| Num Teams: | 107 |
| Continental Cup Qualifiers: |
|
| Matches: | 98 |
| Goals: | 385 |
| Prev Season: | 2022 |
| Next Season: | 2024 |
The 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 108th edition of the oldest soccer tournament in the United States. The tournament proper featured both professional and amateur teams in the United States soccer league system.
Qualification for the 2023 tournament includes local qualifying matches contested by 107 amateur teams scheduled to take place in 2022. One team also qualified by winning the 2022 National Amateur Cup.[1] Clubs playing in fully professional leagues may enter the tournament proper and bypass the qualification process.
The United States Soccer Federation's (U.S. Soccer) Open Cup Committee manages both the tournament proper and the local qualification process.
Clubs based in the United States that play in a league that is an organization member of U.S. Soccer are generally eligible to compete for the U.S. Open Cup, if their league includes at least four teams and has a schedule of at least 10 matches for each club.[2]
U.S.-based teams in Division I, II and III professional leagues qualify for the U.S. Open Cup automatically, provided they are eligible. To be eligible, these teams must be members in good standing of their leagues on December 31, 2021, and remain so through the 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final. The league must have been in operation prior to the open division entry deadline and remain in operation through the 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final. A new Division I, II or III professional league must have its match schedule announced to the public by January 31, 2022, and the first match must be scheduled for no later than seven days before the first scheduled round of the U.S. Open Cup tournament proper that involves the team's division. If a new club joins an existing Division I, II or III league, the league must meet the aforementioned criteria applicable to new leagues in order for the new club to be eligible for the U.S. Open Cup.
A professional team that is majority owned by a higher-level professional team or whose player roster is materially managed by a higher-level professional team is ineligible to participate in the U.S. Open Cup.
Clubs that are below Division III are Open Division teams. To be eligible for the 2023 U.S. Open Cup, an Open Division team must remain a playing member in good standing within its competition from the Open Division Entry Deadline through the final of the 2023 U.S. Open Cup . The league must have been in operation since no later than the open Division Entry Deadline, and remain so until the 2023 U.S. Open Cup Final. A team that started its first season of competition in an existing league must have started its new league's schedule no later than Open Division Entry Deadline.
Starting in 2019, the winner of the previous year's National Amateur Cup automatically qualifies for the U.S. Open Cup.[3] The cup winner enters the tournament proper in the first round with the other Open Division clubs.
National leagues may elect to use the results of their previous year's seasons to determine which of their teams qualify for the U.S. Open Cup in lieu of having their teams play local qualifying matches. If a national league so elects, its teams are not eligible to participate in local qualifying. To qualify as a national league, the league must
Eligible Open Division clubs that did not win the National Amateur Cup and are not members of national leagues must have submitted an application to enter local qualifying by August 8, 2022.
Once applications for local qualifying are approved, U.S. Soccer preliminary estimates of the number of Open Division teams needed in the U.S. Open Cup, based on the anticipated participation of professional teams and anticipated structure of the tournament bracket. One of these slots is allocated to the National Amateur Cup champions. The remainder are allocated among the pool of local qualification teams and the national leagues, based on the relative number of teams in each, resulting in a target number of local qualifiers. The Commissioner will establish the number of qualifying rounds needed to achieve the number of surviving local qualifying teams after the target number of First Round slots is determined. The Commissioner will attempt to minimize the number of byes in order to ensure teams that advance to the First Round have played the same number of games. Byes are distributed randomly and are meant to avoid unnecessary travel but are kept to a minimum to preserve the integrity of the qualification tournament. Once the qualification tournament format has been finalized, the number of local qualifiers becomes fixed, unless a team that qualifies later becomes ineligible. After the December 31, 2021 professional clubs entry application deadline, the final number of Open Division teams needed in the 2022 U.S. Open Cup will become known. From this number, the fixed number of local qualifiers plus one for the National Amateur Cup champion are subtracted to determine the number of slots for clubs from the national leagues. These slots are allocated among the leagues based on their relative numbers of U.S. based eligible teams.
Milwaukee Bavarian SC defeated Northern Virginia FC, 1–0, to win the 2022 National Amateur Cup and qualify for the 2023 U.S. Open Cup.[4]
U.S. Soccer originally announced that 107 teams would participate in local qualifying. Four rounds of local qualifying matches will result in 9 clubs advancing to the tournament proper. Local qualifying will be competed in a single-game, knockout format and match-ups will be organized geographically to minimize travel time and expenses. Random selection will be used to determine matchups when possible and coin flips will determine home teams.
| Round | Match day | New Teams | Entrants | Teams entered to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Qualifying Round | September 17–18, 2022 | 70 | 70 | 70 |
| Second Qualifying Round | October 15–16, 2022 | 37 | 72 | 107 |
| Third Qualifying Round | November 19–20, 2022 | 0 | 36 | 107 |
| Fourth Qualifying Round | December 17–18, 2022 | 0 | 18 | 107 |
A total of 25 states and the District of Columbia are represented by clubs in the U.S. Open Cup Qualification this year.
| States | Number | League | Teams | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | UPSL | A.S. Los Angeles, Davis Legacy, Desert FC, Elk Grove Blues, Escondido FC, Irvine FC, Laguna United FC, OC Kings FC, Orange County FC, Rebels Soccer Club, Trojans FC | |
| 5 | Southwest Premier League | LA Monsters FC, Modesto City Football Club, Olympiacos CA, Temecula FC | ||
| 2 | National Soccer League | Marin County Union SC, Real San Jose | ||
| 1 | NISA Nation | Capo FC | ||
| 1 | San Francisco Soccer Football League | International San Francisco SC | ||
| 1 | West Coast Soccer Association | UC Davis Soccer Club | ||
| 2 | 9 | UPSL | Clearwater Chargers SC, Doral SC, Florida Premier FC, Florida Soccer Soldiers, Gainesville City FC, International Soccer Association, Juventus Academy, Naples City FC, O'Shea's FC | |
| 7 | National Soccer League | City Soccer FC, Florida Brothers, Hurricane FC, Miami Soccer Academy, Miami United FC, Naples United FC, West Palm Beach Academy CF | ||
| 2 | NISA Nation | Club de Lyon, Deportivo Lake Mary FC | ||
| 1 | Central Florida Soccer League | Orlando FC Wolves | ||
| 3 | 3 | UPSL | Oyster Bay United FC, Queensboro II, Sahara Gunners FC | |
| 3 | Eastern Premier Soccer League | Lansdowne Yonkers, New York Greek-American, New York Pancyprian-Freedoms | ||
| 1 | Rochester District Soccer League | IASC Boom | ||
| 1 | Cosmopolitan Soccer League | Manhattan Kickers | ||
| 5 | United Soccer League of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia Ukrainians Nationals, United German Hungarians, Vereinigung Erzgebirge, West Chester United, Lancaster City FC | ||
| 2 | UPSL | Lancaster Elite, Philadelphia Lone Star | ||
| 1 | Eastern Premier Soccer League | Kensington Soccer Club | ||
| 5 | 6 | Colorado Super League | Athletic Club of Sloan's Lake, Azteca FC, Boulder United FC, Colorado Rovers, FC Denver, Harpos | |
| 1 | Mountain Premier League | Peak Eleven Football Club | ||
| 6 | 3 | UPSL | Alamo City Soccer Club, D'Feeters Kicks Soccer Club, FC Fort Worth | |
| 3 | National Soccer League | D10 Lions FC, Galveston Pelicans FC, Houston FC | ||
| 7 | 2 | Garden State Soccer League | Jackson Lions FC, SC Vistula Garfield | |
| 2 | Eastern Premier Soccer League | Real Central NJ, Kearny Scots | ||
| 1 | UPSL | New Jersey Alliance | ||
| 8 | 3 | UPSL | Coronado Athletic Club, FC Arizona, Olympians FC | |
| 1 | NISA Nation | SC Union Maricopa | ||
| 2 | UPSL | Boston Street FC, Unations FC | ||
| 1 | Bay State Soccer League | Brockton FC United | ||
| 1 | Eastern Premier Soccer League | Ruggles Pro FC | ||
| 10 | 2 | DC Premier League | DCFC, Team Tevez | |
| 1 | American Premier League | Aegean Hawks | ||
| 2 | Maryland Super Soccer League | Christos, Steel Pulse | ||
| 1 | UPSL | Germantown City FC | ||
| 12 | 2 | UPSL | Kalonji Pro-Profile, TCSA | |
| 2 | UPSL | Bowling Green FC, Metro Louisville FC | ||
| 1 | UPSL | Mint Hill FC | ||
| 1 | Triangle Adult Soccer League | Tobacco Road FC | ||
| 1 | UPSL | Bellevue Athletic FC | ||
| 1 | Federal Way Men's Open Sunday | Legend Football Gold | ||
| 16 | 1 | UPSL | FC Birmingham | |
| 1 | Connecticut Soccer League | Newtown Pride FC | ||
| 1 | Ohio Valley Premier League | 1972 SC | ||
| 1 | Midwest Premier League | Chicago House AC | ||
| 1 | UPSL | Santa Cruz FC | ||
| 1 | UPSL | UDA Soccer | ||
| 1 | NISA Nation | Battleborn FC | ||
| 1 | Ohio Valley Premier League | Valhalla FC | ||
| 1 | UPSL | South Carolina United Heat | ||
| 1 | UPSL | Beaman United FC | ||
| 1 | Eastern Premier Soccer League | NoVa FC | ||
The first qualifying round matches were scheduled to be played on September 17 and 18. Twenty-three East and Fifteen West Region Teams teams were given byes into the Second Qualifying Round[6]
The second qualifying round matches were scheduled to be played on October 15 & 16.[5]
The third qualifying round matches were scheduled to be played on November 19 & 20.[5]
The fourth qualifying round matches are scheduled to be played on December 17 & 18. The nine winners of this round will advance to the First Round of the tournament proper in March 2023[5]