The Complex World of Soccer: what is the U.S. Open Cup?
On Wednesday, the Union begin another year of the U.S. Open Cup against the Harrisburg City Islanders. Each of the past two years the Union have made it to the final but lost. I wrote before the final against Sporting Kansas City all the reasons the Union need to win the Cup. But for those who don’t know what the Cup is or how it relates to the league, here is an explanation of the Soccer Pyramid and how tournaments like the U.S. Open Cup are related to the league themselves.
Everyone has heard of the U.S. or Spanish National Teams and heard of leagues like Major League Soccer, the English Premier League and La Liga. But you may not know that there are minor leagues under these teams, very similar to professional baseball. Below is what is called the Soccer Pyramid for America, England and Spain.
This chart is very confusing, so let’s walk through it step-by-step.
International: At the top are the national teams that play for their country in events like the World Cup, Copa America, Euros or the Gold Cup. They are made up of players whose nationality is from the country they play for and can be from any club team or any league in the world, not just that country’s domestic league. These players do not play full-time for their national teams. All of them play on professional club teams that give them a substantial amount more time to play.
Club Teams: Separate from the National teams are the different club teams. Each country has its own soccer pyramid with different divisions. These players play full time for their clubs and are paid a salary with benefits like any job. Teams can have players from a variety of different countries and are not bound to only playing players from their country. The top divisions are the first divisions made up of the best teams.
Winning the League: The clubs in the top divisions play in different types of leagues or tournaments. The first is the league. The league is a Round Robin where all the teams play each other, receiving 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. At the end of the season, the team with the most points wins the league. In MLS it’s different because they use a playoff system and teams with the best record are seeded and then then play each other tournament style until the winner is determined. It is similar to the other major sports playoff systems in the U.S.
Country Tournaments: Club teams also play in different types of tournaments over the course of the season. These tournaments pre-date the leagues themselves so have become important in their own right. The United States has the U.S. Open Cup (which will be talked about later), England has the FA Cup, and Spain has the Copa Del Rey. These tournaments are played by all teams in a country not just by the first division teams. As you may guess, these cups are tournament style which means one loss and you are out.
Champions Leagues: Finally, club teams that were the best in their league the year before also play in a regional champion’s league. This is another tournament that pits the best teams from each continent against each other. US teams play in the CONCACAF Champions like while English and Spanish teams play the UEFA Champion’s leagues. These tournaments are also considered very significant to clubs. The winners of each continent’s Champion’s League to play each other in what is called the Club World Cup, but that is much less significant.
Lower Divisions: In addition to the top leagues in each country, each country has lower divisions to separate the best teams from weaker teams and to maintain competiveness across the country. In each country there are typically three lower professional leagues with leagues below that which are amateur or semi-professional. In the U.S. there is the North American Soccer League (NASL) (2nd division), United Soccer League (USL) (3rd), and the Premier Development Soccer League (PDSL) (4th). England has the Championship (2nd), League One (3rd) and League Two (4th). Spain has Liga Adelante (2nd), Segunda B (3rd), and Tercera (4th).
Each division has its own competitive Round Robin league with the goal of trying to win their league title. But they also participate with clubs from other divisions in the country tournament to win their county’s cup. None of the lower division teams play in their continent’s Champion’s League as that is reserved for first division teams.
U.S. Open Cup: So now you understand that each club team can play multiple events in a year and they are separate entities. The Union right now are first place in the Eastern Conference in league play but that plays no part in the U.S. Open Cup. The Union do not gain points for the U.S. Open Cup but must win to keep advancing. Teams enter at different rounds to avoid unfair competition. MLS teams do not enter until the fourth round and must win four games to reach the final which the Union have done the last two years.
History of the U.S. Open Cup: The U.S. Open Cup is a single-elimination tournament founded in 1914 that both amateur and professional teams can play in. The Cup was named the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1999 for Lamar Hunt, one of the pioneers of the sport in the U.S. and one of MLS’ founding owners.
So there is the story behind the U.S. Open Cup and its relationship to the league. The Union start play on 6/15. As the late Jim Valvano said, “Survive and advance.” Third time is the charm, Union fans. Let’s go win the Cup!
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