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USL Cup

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Soccer knockout tournament in the U.S. This article is about the knockout cup competition. For the competition formerly known as USL Cup, see USL Championship final. Not to be confused with U.S. Open Cup or U.S. Cup.

Football tournament
USL Jägermeister Cup
Organizing bodyUnited Soccer League
Founded2024; 0 years ago (2024)
RegionUnited States
Number of teams38 (2025)
Current champion(s)Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC
Most successful club(s)Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (1 title)
Television broadcastersESPN+, CBS
MottoA Shot at Glory
Websiteuslleagueone.com
2025 USL Cup

The USL Cup is an annual soccer competition in men's domestic American soccer. The USL Cup is currently known as the USL Jägermeister Cup after its title sponsor, Jägermeister. The competition is open to all clubs in USL Championship and USL League One.

History

The first USL Cup featured teams exclusively in USL League One; however, USL already intended to expand the cup beyond just that league. Richmond Kickers chairman Rob Ukrop stated at the time of the announcement that another league had been invited to participate, but wasn't “ready to jump in yet.”

The format of the 2024 USL Cup allowed a balanced league schedule for the 2024 USL League One season, with each team playing each other twice and also preserving the length of the season. Previous to the creation of the USL Cup, the league had regularly played an unbalanced schedule of 28–32 games, often playing other teams in the league three times. The introduction of USL Championship sides into the competition in 2025 re-introduced an unbalanced schedule to USL League One.

In an interview, USL Championship president Jeremy Alumbaugh and USL League One president Lee O'Neill stated that both USL Championship and USL League Two were being considered to enter the competition in future years. However, the USL Cup was not considered to be a replacement for the U.S. Open Cup, and USL teams would continue competing in future U.S. Open Cup tournaments.

O'Neill emphasized in USL's announcement of the tournament that the creation of the USL Cup would "open up more possibilities for the competitive structure going forward." The announcement also hinted that the tournament could be a precursor to a promotion and relegation system within the professional levels of the USL.

The 2025 edition of the USL Cup saw the addition of USL Championship clubs to the competition, keeping a similar format to the previous year's edition.

Competition format

If a game is tied at the end of regulation, a penalty kick shootout will occur. A regulation win is worth three points, a shootout win worth two, and a shootout loss worth one.

The teams participating in the competition are split into groups of six to seven teams, with each team facing two teams in their group at home, and two others away. The top team from each group advances to a knockout round, in addition to the two teams who score the most goals in the competition that do not win their group.

The first edition of the competition split the teams into three groups of four teams. Teams played the other three teams in their group twice, home and away. They played an additional two games against two teams in other groups, one at home and one away. The top team from each group, plus the team with the most goals scored that did not win their group, advanced to the knockout round.

Sponsorship

Jägermeister was announced as the title sponsor for the USL Cup on March 18, 2024, three months after the initial announcement of the tournament and one month before the competition's kickoff. The announcement of Jägermeister's sponsorship stated that it was a multi-year agreement. USL Championship president Paul McDonough confirmed in an interview with Sports Business Journal that the agreement with Jägermeister was for two seasons, running through the 2025 edition of the competition. A lawsuit by ownership of Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC placed the cost of the sponsorship at $300,000 per year.

Broadcasting

In February 2024, USL announced that ESPN+ would be the exclusive broadcaster for all matches in the 2024 USL Cup. For the 2025 USL Cup, games will continue to be broadcast by ESPN+, with the possibility of also being aired by various CBS networks.

List of USL Cup finals

Key to list of winners
† Match decided via a penalty shootout after regulation
(#) Number of trophies won by club
  • The "Season" column refers to the season the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season.
Season Winners Score Runners–up Venue Location Attendance
2024 Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (1) † 1–1 † Forward Madison FC 4Rivers Equipment Stadium Windsor, Colorado 3,550
  1. Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC won the penalty shootout 5–4.

Winners and finalists

Club Wins First final won Last final won Runners-up Last final lost Total final
appearances
Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC 1 2024 2024 0 — 1
Forward Madison FC 0 — — 1 2024 1

References

  1. ^ "USL League One introduces new in-season cup competition". USLLeagueOne.com. USL League One. December 12, 2023. Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
  2. ^ "USL League One and Jägermeister agree to multi-year entitlement partnership for new "USL Jägermeister Cup"". USLLeagueOne.com. USL League One. March 18, 2024. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  3. ^ "USL Expands Jägermeister Cup, Launches First Pro Interleague Competition Created by a Domestic Soccer League". USLSoccer.com. United Soccer League. December 12, 2024. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
  4. ^ Ashton, Alex (December 13, 2023). "What We Know About the USL League One In-Season Cup". LeagueOneUpdater.com. League One Updater. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  5. "Exclusive interview: USL bosses Alumbaugh & O'Neill on new cup format, pro/rel and expansion". Transfermarkt.us. Transfermarkt. April 26, 2024. Archived from the original on August 15, 2024. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  6. Jones, Kyle (March 18, 2024). "USL League One in-season tournament gets its name: The USL Jägermeister Cup". Channel3000.com. WISC-TV. Archived from the original on March 19, 2024. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  7. ^ Silverman, Alex (December 12, 2024). "USL expanding Jägermeister Cup to all teams". SportsBusinessJournal.com. Sports Business Journal. Archived from the original on December 12, 2024. Retrieved December 12, 2024.
  8. Future Legends v. USL PRO 2 (Los Angeles County Superior Court) ("On information and belief, Jaegermeister entered into a multi-year deal with USL to sponsor the cup at a price of $300,000.00 annually."), Text, archived from the original.
  9. "United Soccer League and ESPN Renew Multiyear Broadcasting Agreement for USL Championship and USL League One". USLLeagueOne.com. USL League One. February 27, 2024. Archived from the original on March 18, 2024. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
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