2026 USL Cup

2026 USL Cup

Prinx Tires USL Cup
Tournament details
Country	United States
Dates	April 25, 2026 (2026-04-25) – October 4, 2026 (2026-10-04)
Teams	43
←  2025 2027 →

The 2026 USL Cup will be the third edition of the USL Cup (known as the Prinx Tires USL Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition is open to all clubs in USL Championship and USL League One.

Format

The 2026 edition of the USL Cup is a professional soccer tournament held between teams in USL Championship and USL League One. Teams are split into seven groups of six or seven teams; each team will play two teams in their group at home, and two others away. The group winners, along with the second-place team with the highest point total, will move to a single-elimination knockout round. The first tiebreaker will be goals scored. ^[1]

Schedule

The 2026 USL Cup will run concurrently with the 2026 USL Championship season and the 2026 USL League One season. The tournament will begin roughly one month into the league seasons and end shortly before the end of the league seasons and start of the league playoffs.

The groups for the 2026 USL Cup were announced on December 10, 2025. ^[1]

Access

All 25 clubs in USL Championship and 18 clubs in USL League One will enter the 2026 USL Cup in the group stage. ^[2]

Round	Entrants	Number of games	Date(s)
Group stage (43 clubs)	25 clubs from USL Championship 18 clubs from USL League One	86	April 25, 2026 (2026-04-25) – July 26, 2026 (2026-07-26)
Quarterfinals (8 clubs)	7 group stage winners 1 wild card	4	August 13, 2026 (2026-08-13)
Semifinals (4 clubs)	4 winners from quarterfinals	2	September 9, 2026 (2026-09-09)
Final (2 clubs)	2 winners from semifinals	1	October 2, 2026 (2026-10-02)

Location map

Boise

Las Vegas

Monterey Bay

Oakland

Sacramento

Spokane

Antelope Valley

Colorado Springs

El Paso

New Mexico

Orange County

Phoenix

Birmingham

Corpus Christi

Chattanooga

Knoxville

San Antonio

Tulsa

Detroit

Fort Wayne

Madison

Indy

Lexington

Louisville

Omaha

Brooklyn

Hartford

New York

Portland

Rhode Island

Westchester

Charleston

Charlotte

Greenville

Loudoun

Pittsburgh

Richmond

Jacksonville

Miami

Naples

Sarasota

Tampa Bay

South Georgia

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Locations of teams in the 2025 USL Cup

• Group 1
• Group 2
• Group 3
• Group 4
• Group 5
• Group 6
• Group 7

References

1. Staff, USLChampionship com (December 16, 2025). "Prinx Tires named entitlement partner of USL Cup". USL Championship. Retrieved January 21, 2026.
2. Lewis, Michael (December 16, 2025). "THIRD EDITION: Prinx Tires USL Cup kicks off on April 25". Front Row Soccer. Retrieved January 20, 2026.