Colorado Rapids will participate in the 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, as confirmed by the tournament format and schedule released by U.S. Soccer on December 4, 2025. The national club championship will begin in mid-March and conclude with the final on October 21.
The 2026 edition will feature 80 teams competing for a $1 million prize and a place in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. CBS Sports remains the multi-media rights partner for the competition.
This year’s tournament has been reduced to seven rounds, one fewer than recent editions, to avoid overlap with the FIFA Men’s World Cup calendar. As a result, the number of professional teams has decreased from 64 to 48, with league standings used as qualifying criteria for participation. All teams must have played a league season in 2025 to be eligible.
Two rule changes have been introduced: each club may enter only its highest-level professional team, and there are no longer numerical limits on competition rosters. Players can be added up to one day before a match, subject to registration and eligibility rules.
The First Round is scheduled for March 17-19 and will feature amateur teams facing Division II or III professional opponents. Winners will progress through subsequent rounds until the Round of 32, where Major League Soccer (MLS) Division I teams—including Colorado Rapids—enter the competition on April 14 or 15.
U.S. Soccer stated: “Because the competition features one fewer round than recent editions, the field of professional teams has been reduced from 64 to 48, with slots for each professional division allocated as evenly as possible. League standings will serve as qualifying criteria to determine which professional teams are eligible, therefore all teams participating in 2026 U.S. Open Cup must have played a league season in 2025.”
Draws for early rounds will be announced in January, while the live draw for later stages is set for April 2. Tournament structure emphasizes geographic proximity when pairing clubs but uses random selection if necessary.
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is recognized as U.S. Soccer’s Club Championship and is noted as both the longest-running national soccer competition in the United States and among the world’s oldest continuously run national cup tournaments.
Sixteen MLS clubs—including Colorado Rapids—will enter at the Round of 32 based on their performance and qualification status from previous seasons. Teams participating in other major competitions such as Concacaf Champions Cup are excluded from this tournament.
For more information about U.S. Soccer’s vision and programs, visit ussoccer.com/ourvision. Details about past champions and tournament history can be found at ussoccer.com/us-open-cup.
