Open Cup Digest #18

While the 2025 US Open Cup is set to resume when the final four face each other in two weeks, qualification for the 2026 tournament is already getting underway. On Friday, August 22, US Soccer announced the amateur teams that are taking part in the Open Division Qualifying Tournament for the 2026 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. These teams hail from the Open Division – the United States Soccer Federation’s term for all non-professional soccer – and come from all types of leagues. That includes national organizations that house essentially semi-professional teams, regional leagues that don’t cover as much distance but have high competition standards, and some from state or city-level competitions that feel closer to Sunday leagues.

A record 145 teams will take part in Open Division Qualifying Rounds beginning this month for the right to take one of 16 spots into the 111th edition of US Soccer’s Club Championship. There's no better time for an amateur side to make a go for it since this is the largest number of spots ever available via open qualifying.

Since 2024, the First Round of the tournament has seen amateur outfits face off against lower-division professional teams. That means a local side might have a date against Westchester SC or the New York Cosmos from USL League One (Division III), or possibly even Brooklyn FC of the USL Championship (Division II) if the men’s team sticks to the current 2026 launch date.

There is also the chance that either NYCFC II or New York Red Bulls II from MLS Next Pro (Division III) will return to the tournament and be viable First Round opponents, depending on how Major League Soccer decides qualification.

Open Division schedule and matchups

The 145 teams are grouped into 16 regional pools that act as mini-tournaments, with a draw conducted ahead of each qualifying round to determine matchups. (The imbalance of teams will be accounted for by awarding byes through random draws.) The 2026 Qualifying Tournament will be played across the following four weekend windows from September through November:

• September 13-14, 2025
• October 11-12, 2025
• November 1-2, 2025
• November 22-23, 2025

After the results are in, each regional pool will send one team to the 2026 US Open Cup. The pairings were released on Friday, August 29, and are as follows for local teams:

In total, 101 teams around the country earned byes to October’s Second Qualifying Round including 11 teams from New York and New Jersey: Bulldogs SC (UPSL), Central Park Rangers FC (APSL), FC Monmouth (TLfC), FCY New York (UPSL), Ironbound SCP (UPSL), Lansdowne Yonkers FC (APSL), Metropolitan Oval Academy (TLfC), Oaklyn United FC (APSL), Osner's FC (NPSL), SC Vistula Garfield (APSL), and Zum Schneider FC (APSL)

Let's take a look at each of the contestants from our neck of the woods.

New York’s new and returning faces

In total, 10 teams across four leagues taking part in qualifying come from New York State, with six teams based within New York City.

America Premier Soccer League:
• Central Park Rangers FC (Roosevelt Island)
• Doxa FCW (New Rochelle)
• Lansdowne Yonkers FC (Yonkers)
• New York Greek American SC (Astoria)
• New York Pancyprian Freedoms (Astoria)
• Zum Schneider FC 03 (Roosevelt Island)

National Premier Soccer League:
• American Soccer Club New York (Hempsted)
• Osner's FC (Brooklyn)

The League for Clubs:
• Metropolitan Oval Academy (Queens)

United Premier Soccer League:
• FCY New York (Buffalo)
• NY Renegades FC (Hicksville)

Six of the teams participated in qualifying last year. That includes NY Renegades FC from Hicksville, NY, in Nassau County, Long Island. After winning three games in qualifying last year, including a penalty kick shootout win over Lansdowne Yonkers in the final round, Renegades fell to Columbus Crew 2 in the First Round, 4-1, in a one-and-done Open Cup debut. The team are also coming off a disappointing Spring 2025 UPSL season, going undefeated in the regular season but falling in the Northeast-American Conference final to New York Braveheart SC, including a game-winning goal from former Houston Dynamo FC player Joe Holland.

NY Renegades 2-1 NY Braveheart | Official Highlights

More returning faces include Central Park Rangers FC, Lansdowne Yonkers FC, New York Greek American SC, and Zum Schneider FC, all from the American Premier Soccer League. Lansdowne and Greek Americans are looking to return to the Open Cup, with the Greeks being competition royalty with four championships to their name.

Both Central Park Rangers and Zum Schneider are seeking their first-ever Open Cup appearance. Last year, the two teams met in the first round of qualifying, where Zum came out on top on Randalls Island. Hudson River Blue followed up that performance by covering one of the team’s players, Diego Hurtado, who also founded the sportswear company Diaza Football.

Another team from the APSL this year is Doxa FCW, who call Joseph F. Fosina Field in New Rochelle home. Established in 1962 and with three tournament appearances in the mid-1970s, Doxa are one of the longest continuously running Greek heritage clubs in the city and has a partnership with MLS Next side FC Westchester.

Their main rival are the other long-running heritage club in the city, New York Pancyprian-Freedoms, who are attempting to qualify for a second straight tournament. Founded by Greek-Cypriot immigrants in 1974, the Astoria side have won three Open Cup titles and won the 2024 National Amateur Cup to qualify for the 2025 tournament. There, the team pulled off a massive cupset when it beat FC Cincinnati 2 on the road in a penalty kick shootout.

The Defender is the Designer: The story of Diaza sportswear

Open Cup Digest #9: Diego Hurtado’s sports apparel company Diaza supplies kits to more than 80 clubs — the 31-year-old founder will take the field for Zum Schneider this Sunday as they try to qualify for the 2025 US Open Cup.

Hudson River BlueMichael Battista

Local debutants

That brings up the three NYC area debutantes.

For the first time in years, US Soccer amended its rules a few months ago to allow teams from the two “national leagues" to participate in the Open Division Qualifying Tournament. In the past, teams from National Premier Soccer League and USL League Two could only qualify through their respective leagues and couldn't enter the Open Division. That rule was changed earlier this year, which means that teams can enter this qualifying tournament. 

Two NPSL teams are now attempting to qualify for their first Open Cup after disappointing debut seasons in the league.

Osner’s FC, founded as a Haitian-initiated club 10 years ago, finished their first season in the NPSL with a record of 3W-2D-5L. In the five-team North Atlantic Conference, that was enough to qualify for the four-team conference playoffs. Osner’s final game ended in disappointment despite Miche-Naider Chéry giving the team the lead in the second half against top-seed Hartford City FC. But an equalizer followed by a loss in a penalty kick shootout brought an end to the team’s season.

Despite the struggles, Osner’s had a few bright spots in 2025. Chéry finished the year with nine goals, enough to finish eighth on the NPSL’s Golden Boot leaderboard. Chéry is a former professional whose resume includes stints with Oakland Roots SC in the USL Championship and with Haiti’s Violette AC. The latter included a memorable run in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League, where he scored two braces to finish second in the tournament Golden Boot race. The first helped Violette defeat Austin FC in Haiti en route to a historic upset, and the second came in a 2-1 win over Mexico's Club León, despite the team being defeated on aggregate. Back in January, Osner’s played a friendly against Ecuadorian giants Barcelona SC at historic Hinchcliffe Stadium in Paterson, NJ.

Brooklyn amateur side impress against Ecuadorian giants Barcelona SC

A Friendly in New Jersey brought out thousands of fans of the Ecuadorian club, but Brooklyn’s Osner’s FC held their own while enlisting former and aspiring professional players.

Hudson River BlueMichael Battista

They are joined by American Soccer Club New York, also known as ASC New York, who finished just fifth in the NPSL North Atlantic Conference and missed the playoffs after falling in the last game of the season. The Fighting Tomcats roster includes former New York City FC academy keeper Kenneth Córdova, a native of Brentwood, NY, and former New York Red Bulls II forward Brian Saramago, who is originally from New Hyde Park, NY. Saramago led the team with six goals. The team was founded by New York natives Jim Kilmeade and Kevin Reardon, and leadership also includes Jim’s brother and current Fox News host Brian Kilmeade. The team receives generous coverage from the New York Post and Fox 5 News.

The last first-time entrant is Metropolitan Oval Academy, the defending national champion of The League for Clubs. Former NYCFC academy forward Balthazar Saunders of Brooklyn led the team with six goals. The incredibly young side, who also compete in MLS Next, claimed the national title in Frisco, TX, with a penalty kick shootout win over Napa Valley 1839 FC. While the team is looking for its first tournament appearance, the club’s century-old venue has played an important role in US Open Cup history, having hosted four national finals (1951, 1974, 1976, 1980)

Finally, there are FCY New York from the westernmost reaches of the state. A Buffalo-based club with a Yemeni heritage that dates back to the 1970s, FCY reached the final round of qualifying last year but fell to CD Faialense from the greater Boston area.

New Jersey's Cinderella Stories, history

New Jersey, much like New York, also has four leagues represented in its batch of teams. Eight teams are taking part in qualifying, with a majority coming from the Northern region of the state — AKA “God’s Country,” where Taylor Ham is the preferred term and only outsiders use turn signals on the turnpike.

America Premier Soccer League:
• Oaklyn United FC (Oaklyn)
• Real Central NJ Soccer (Trenton)
• SC Vistula Garfield (Garfield)

Garden State Soccer League:
•Scots-American Athletic Club (Kearny)

The League for Clubs:
• FC Monmouth (Red Bank)

United Premier Soccer League:
• Bulldogs SC (East Brunswick)
• Ironbound SCP (Newark)
• New Jersey Alliance FC (Lyndhurst)

First and foremost, Scots-American AC is back in qualifying for the first time since the 2023 US Open Cup qualification tournament, when they lost to Queensboro FC II. Better known as Kearny Scots, the club were founded 125 years ago in Kearny, NJ (known as Soccertown USA for the plethora of talent it produces), and have been woven into the fabric of US Soccer history.

Officially, TheCup.us recorded that the Scots appeared in 15 National Challenge Cups (the former name of the US Open Cup) between 1933 and 1950, reaching the semifinals in 1935. It's not a perfect history, and there are multiple periods where the team seems to have gone dark. But there aren’t a lot of teams in American soccer with this sort of history — it's evident when you walk into the still-standing Scots American Club on the corner of Patterson and Highland. The team’s alumni include Newark’s own John Hemingsley, who played in the first-ever US Men’s National Team game versus Sweden in 1916, and Billy Gonsalves, who was nicknamed "Babe Ruth of American Soccer" and played for the US in the first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1930.

Am I biased because I’m from Kearny? That's a question best left unanswered.

Kearny All-Stars 1-3 Scotland | June 5, 1949

One team trying to get back to the Open Cup is NJ Alliance FC from Lyndhurst, which were founded back in 2012. After multiple attempts, the club finally ran the gauntlet of qualifying games last year: Three wins, including a penalty kick shootout victory against Steel Pulse FC earned the squad a USOC debut. Their first game was a thriller, with the UPSL side holding a lead against professional USL League One side Chattanooga Red Wolves SC but falling in a shootout.

Alliance’s season never fully recovered, as the Spring 2025 USPL season saw the club finish third in its conference before falling in the Northeast-American Conference Quarterfinals.

Two of Alliance’s UPSL rivals are also taking part in qualifying: Bulldogs SC and Ironbound SCP. Bulldogs were founded in 2009 by a group of friends from Old Bridge, and have been finding success in the state-run Garden State Soccer League, winning the GSSL A Division Championship in 2025.

On the other side are Ironbound SCP, a club with a rich history. In 2024, two of Newark’s most established programs, Sport Club Portuguese (SCP) and Ironbound Soccer Club (ISC), merged into one unit. The former are a cornerstone of the Portuguese community in Newark’s Ironbound neighborhood, with a clubhouse and museum that any soccer fan should visit. The latter are a major youth academy also out of Ironbound whose alumni include current Bundesliga player John Tolkin and current AFC Bournemouth star Tyler Adams.

Neither the Bulldogs nor Ironbound had impressive seasons in the UPSL this past Spring, though that is what's great about a chance to get into the USOC.

FC Monmouth are entering Open Cup qualifying for the first time after its first season in The League for Clubs. After six seasons in the National Premier Soccer League, Monmouth joined multiple NPSL clubs last offseason and helped form TLfC. Monmouth and first-year head coach Hugh MacDonald (also from Kearny, btw), who signed with the New York Red Bulls in 2007 and currently serves as the assistant head coach of the Monmouth University men’s team, followed up by having their best season to date. Monmouth made the Northeast Conference playoffs with a record of 8W-1D-1L before falling to Atlantic City FC.

Monmouth have done very well in their role as a community club, bringing out hundreds of fans to Count Basie Park in Red Bank, including a dedicated supporters group in The 732 SC. Notable fans include Soccerwise’s Tom Bogert, who may or may not come out of retirement for qualifying.

The final metro-area local team are SC Vistula Garfield, which also compete out of the APSL Metropolitan Conference. Named after a river that snakes out of the Carpathians and through Warsaw, the Polish heritage side have a strong academy base that includes alumni goalkeeper Tobias Szewczyk, currently on New York Red Bulls II, and current product goalkeeper Michal Zamajtys who is also in the New York City FC academy system. Vistula are led by head coach Christopher Karcz who, like MacDonald above, was signed by the Red Bulls in 2007 but never saw the field with the first team.

Farther south, two more APSL teams round out the Garden State brigade: Real Central NJ and Oaklyn United.

More teams already in

Despite not being officially announced, a handful of locals are seemingly already in possession of a ticket directly into March’s first round.

All of this information comes from our friends at TheCup.us, who have calculated all the amateur teams that will have direct qualification into the Open Cup. That includes the national leagues, the NPSL and USL2, which are awarding spots based on team performance during the season.

Flower City Union from Rochester, NY, look to have secured a spot in the tournament thanks to reaching the national quarterfinals of the playoffs. Despite the NPSL only being awarded four tournament berths, two teams ahead of Flower City already qualified for the Open Cup via other methods. A 2026 tournament appearance would mark Flower City’s first tournament appearance since the team were a professional side in the National Independent Soccer Association.

Vermont Green 2-1 Ballard FC, Wins USL League Two Title: 4 Thoughts

A crowd that was double the capacity of Virtue Field watched hometown Vermont Green FC defeat Seattle’s Ballard FC with a stoppage-time goal to win the national title for the non-professional USL League Two.

Hudson River BlueMichael Battista

Tournament regulars FC Motown will qualify thanks to how they performed in USL League Two. The side, which competes as FC Motown STA in the league, finished the regular season undefeated and as regular-season champions. This will be Motown's ninth-straight qualification, including the cancelled 2020 tournament. They will be joined by the team that beat them in the League Two playoffs, America's favorite hippies and eventual national champions Vermont Green FC.

Other direct qualifiers include the 2025 UPSL Spring Season Champion Tennessee Tempo FC, owned by NYCFC cult hero Kwadwo Poku, and 2025 National Amateur Cup champions West Chester United SC from the Philadelphia metro area. El Farolito SC from San Francisco will also return as John Motta Trophy holder, the award given to the farthest-reaching Open Division team in the tournament each year, which now comes with qualification into the following year’s tournament.

Poku Power: Tennessee Tempo win UPSL national championship

NYCFC cult hero Kwadwo Poku is the sometimes-player, co-founder, and co-owner of Tennessee Tempo FC — who just won a national title in the fourth tier of American soccer. Will the 33-year-old return to the field when Tempo compete in the 2026 US Open Cup?

Hudson River BlueMichael Battista