MLS teams will NOT compete in the US Open Cup from 2024 onwards, the league announces… with development clubs to replace them in the nation’s oldest soccer tournament in bid to reduce fixture congestion

Major League Soccer has announced that MLS teams will not be participating in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup for the foreseeable future.

Instead, from 2024 onwards the MLS will be having its developmental teams take part in the competition.

Clubs from the MLS Next Pro division, the third tier of US soccer, will be competing in the nation’s oldest tournament – which has been played since 1914.

According to The Athletic, the move is an attempt by MLS chiefs to reduce fixture congestion after Los Angeles FC played a record 53 competitive games in 2023.

The last US Open Cup was won by the Houston Dynamo, who got the better of a Lionel Messi-less Inter Miami at DRV PNK Stadium back in September.

The last US Open Cup was won by the Houston Dynamo after they got the better of Inter Miami 

While speaking at the U.S. Soccer board of governors meeting in May, MLS commissioner Don Garber had referred to the US Open Cup as ‘a very poor reflection on what it is we’re trying to do with soccer at the highest level.’ 

Garber’s tone had however seemingly changed while speaking during a league news conference last week, where he expressed a wish for unity across the entire landscape of domestic soccer in the US.

‘I made those comments because I believe if we’re going to have our professional teams competing in a tournament that is the oldest tournament of its type, we all need to embrace it — from our federation to our respective leagues — and give it the profile and give it the support that it needs,’ Garber said of his previous comments back in May. 

‘If we can’t do that, then we all should meet together and decide that there needs to be a new plan. 

‘I will say that I’m pleased that our competition group and U.S. Soccer have been working together since that last US Soccer board meeting and have been working on ways to evolve the U.S. Open Cup so that it can be more valuable to everybody. That process is ongoing.’ 

The decision to take MLS teams out of the US Open Cup didn’t go down well with fans on social media, who expressed outrage after discovering Next Pro teams will be replacing them in the competition.

Fans took to social media to express their outrage with the decision from Major League Soccer

‘Major league soccer is a joke. Do not spend a single dollar on them,’ said one fan.

‘Actually pathetic,’ said another. ‘Don Garber and Major League Soccer want to kill everything they don’t own.’

‘MLS has decided that its teams won’t participate in the 2024 US Open Cup. Instead, its reserve teams will participate. This is a new low for Major League Soccer,’ said another outraged fan. 

‘Imagine the outrage if Premier League clubs dropped out of the FA Cup. Unbelievable.’