Chicago Fire to play in 2026 U.S. Open Cup
The U.S. Soccer Federation released the format, schedule and participants for the 2026 U.S. Open Cup and once again, the Chicago Fire will be participants.
In the 111th edition of the tournament, a total of 80 teams, including 32 amateur clubs, will participate in the tournament proper, which will have one fewer rounds than the 2025 edition, which will pause for the men’s World Cup being held in North America next summer. The reduction in round reduced the size of the field by 16 teams, all coming at the expense of reduced professional participation.
In the newly-announced format, only 17 of 23 eligible teams from the second-division USL Championship will be participating, with participants based on 2025 conference standings. They will enter in the first round alongside all 13 returning third-division USL League One teams and the two independent MLS Next Pro teams.
For the first time since 2023, no MLS-affiliated teams from MLS Next Pro will be in the competition, but “players affiliated with [MLS] entrants may appear in the competition or their MLS Division I affiliate (subject to competition roster regulations).” Presumably, those rules will once again follow league rules, which place restrictions on the number of callups that Next Pro players can receive unless they sign a first-team deal.
Those 32 professional squads will square off against 32 amateur entrants to the competition in the first round. Winners of that round will face off against each other for the right to meet the 16 MLS entrants in the third round.
Under the announced schedule, the Round of 32 featuring the Fire and other MLS clubs will take place April 14 and 15, a Tuesday and Wednesday. Because of the Chicago Fire’s eighth-place finish in the Eastern Conference standings, they will be seeded as a home team when they enter the competition.
According to the details released by U.S. Soccer, once again, teams that are participating in the CONCACAF Champions Cup will not participate in the Open Cup. The statement seems to confirm that MLS is anticipating that the Leagues Cup competition against Liga MX teams will return in 2026, something the league has not officially confirmed.
The relatively small slate of MLS teams entering the Open Cup once again gives a golden opportunity for the Fire to become the first MLS team in the tournament’s history to win the competition five times. Sporting Kansas City, another four time winner, will also be in the Open Cup next year, while the Seattle Sounders’ participation in CONCACAF competition will deny them a chance at their fifth title.
The Fire are one of just seven MLS teams in the competition that made the postseason in 2025. Not only does the small field help – the Fire’s chances are also bolstered by geographic distribution: Nine of the participating MLS teams are from the Eastern Conference (including five teams that made the postseason), while only seven are from the Western Conference. In a competition that uses geographic proximity for determining matchups, that makes it more likely that the Fire will be drawn against Western Conference opponents, which features only two opponents that made the playoffs this year (including Minnesota United, who ended the Fire’s 2025 Open Cup campaign).
Due to the pause for the World Cup, the final is slated to be played October 21st, 2026, the sixth latest date in the year for the final in the competition’s history, and latest since the 2002 final on October 24th. (Prior to 1995, the final was hosted in the spring or summer on a fall-to-spring schedule.) October 21st is also, incidentally, the date of the Fire’s 2-1 victory over the Miami Fusion that gave the team their second U.S. Open Cup title in 2000.
