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

Louisville City FC won its first trophy, defeating defending champion Hartford Athletic 1–0 in the final.

Format The 2026 edition of the USL Cup was a professional soccer tournament held between teams in USL Championship and USL League One. Teams were split into seven groups of six or seven teams; each team played 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, moved to a single-elimination knockout round. The first tiebreaker was goals scored.

Schedule The 2026 USL Cup ran concurrently with the 2026 USL Championship season and the 2026 USL League One season. The tournament began roughly one month into the league seasons and ended 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.

Access All 25 clubs in USL Championship and 17 clubs in USL League One will enter the 2026 USL Cup in the group stage.

Round Entrants Number of games Date(s) Group stage(42 clubs) 25 clubs from USL Championship17 clubs from USL League One 82 – Quarterfinals(8 clubs) 7 group stage winners1 wild card 4 Semifinals(4 clubs) 4 winners from quarterfinals 2 Final(2 clubs) 2 winners from semifinals 1

Location map

Group stage + Number of teams per tier still in competition Championship League 1 Total The group stage was played from April 25 to July 11. Teams were divided into seven regional groups of six or seven teams. They played two teams in their group at home and two other teams away.

If a team won in regulation, they received three points in the standings, while the loser received zero. If the game was tied at the end of regulation, a penalty kick shootout occurred; the winner received two points and the loser received one.

The top team in each group reached a single-elimination knockout stage. A wild-card spot was awarded to the second-placed team with the most points in group play, with most goals scored being used as first tiebreaker.

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

Group 7

Wildcard

Knockout stage + Number of teams per tier still in competition Championship League 1 Total Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

Statistics

Average home attendances Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance.

TeamLeague New Mexico United USLC 2 18,994 9,605 9,389 9,497 Sacramento Republic FC USLC 2 18,540 9,425 9,115 9,270 Louisville City FC USLC 2 18,363 9,487 8,876 9,182 Rhode Island FC USLC 2 17,584 10,554 7,030 8,792 Indy Eleven USLC 2 17,138 8,586 8,552 8,569 Athletic Club Boise USL1 2 14,453 7,247 7,206 7,227 Detroit City FC USLC 2 13,407 7,051 6,356 6,704 Portland Hearts of Pine USL1 2 12,538 6,307 6,231 6,269 Phoenix Rising FC USLC 2 12,529 7,002 5,527 6,265 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC USLC 2 12,403 6,311 6,092 6,202 San Antonio FC USLC 4 21,954 6,092 4,757 5,489 El Paso Locomotive FC USLC 2 10,053 5,042 5,011 5,027 Lexington SC USLC 2 9,336 5,127 4,209 4,668 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC USLC 2 9,016 5,027 3,989 4,508 Orange County SC USLC 2 9,016 4,608 4,408 4,508 Tampa Bay Rowdies USLC 3 12,884 5,669 2,287 4,295 Richmond Kickers USL1 2 8,303 4,881 3,422 4,152 FC Tulsa USLC 2 8,153 4,953 3,200 4,077 Fort Wayne FC USL1 2 8,008 4,214 3,794 4,004 Forward Madison FC USL1 2 7,751 4,178 3,573 3,876 Charleston Battery USLC 2 7,477 4,475 3,002 3,739 Oakland Roots SC USLC 2 7,143 5,669 1,474 3,572 One Knoxville SC USL1 2 7,049 4,702 2,347 3,525 AV Alta FC USL1 2 6,117 3,206 2,911 3,059 Monterey Bay FC USLC 2 6,005 3,605 2,400 3,003 Birmingham Legion FC USLC 2 5,802 3,237 2,565 2,901 Las Vegas Lights FC USLC 2 5,458 2,774 2,684 2,729 Greenville Triumph SC USL1 2 5,007 2,876 2,131 2,504 Hartford Athletic USLC 3 7,233 2,983 1,639 2,411 Union Omaha USL1 2 4,389 2,348 2,041 2,195 Westchester SC USL1 2 4,313 3,257 1,056 2,157 FC Naples USL1 2 4,210 2,139 2,071 2,105 Loudoun United FC USLC 2 3,487 2,260 1,227 1,744 Spokane Velocity FC USL1 3 5,130 2,325 972 1,710 Brooklyn FC USLC 2 3,236 1,977 1,259 1,618 Chattanooga Red Wolves SC USL1 2 2,829 1,551 1,278 1,415 Charlotte Independence USL1 3 3,913 2,545 655 1,304 Sporting Club Jacksonville USLC 2 2,511 1,642 869 1,256 New York Cosmos USL1 2 2,199 1,159 1,040 1,100 Sarasota Paradise USL1 2 2,119 1,436 683 1,060 Corpus Christi FC USL1 2 1,743 1,128 615 872 Miami FC USLC 2 1,583 821 762 792 Total combined 88 352,098 10,554 615 4,001

Average home attendances by league League USL Championship52252,02710,5547624,847 USL League One36100,0717,2476152,780 Total 88 352,098 10,554 615 4,001

Awards

Player of the Round

Round Position Player Club Reason 1 MF Enzo Martínez Charlotte Independence 2 goals vs. Richmond Kickers 2 FW MD Myers Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 goals vs. Miami FC 3 MF Allen Gavilanes Union Omaha 1 goal; 2 assists vs. Fort Wayne FC 4 FW Neco Brett Spokane Velocity 2 goals vs. Oakland Roots SC

Goal of the Round

Round Player Club Opponent 1 Pedro Santos Loudoun United FC Charleston Battery 2 Louis Perez Tampa Bay Rowdies Miami FC 3 Ilias Aoumaich AV Alta FC Orange County SC 4 Juan Carlos Obregon Brooklyn FC Rhode Island FC

Save of the Round

Round Player Club Opponent 1 Jonathan Kliewer Athletic Club Boise Las Vegas Lights FC 2 Hunter Morse Portland Hearts of Pine Rhode Island FC 3 Aurie Echevarría Fort Wayne FC Union Omaha 4 Tristan Stephani New York Cosmos Portland Hearts of Pine

Team of the Round

Player of the Round denoted in Bold.

Round Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Bench Coach 1 Vitiello (SAC) Foster (COS) Cardona (ELP) Alves (BKN) Epps (LEX) Martínez (CLT) Borczak (OMA) Bowen (CRP) Rodríguez (SAC) Amann (PGH) Henderlong (TBR) Sutton (SAR) Alfaro (ELP) Akpunonu (CHS) Wolff (SAC) Baker (KNX) Malango (SAC) Obregón (BKN) Candela (OMA) 2 Tambakis (TUL) Yamazaki (DET) Mar Boye (PHX) Rocha (COS) Spengler (NYC) Moursou (PHX) Kelly (CHS) Bodily (ACB) Wilson (LOU) Myers (TBR) Guenzatti (NYC) Siaha (HFD) Suárez (SAN) Perez (TBR) Fjeldberg (COS) Vinyals (SPK) Donovan (LOU) Wright (POR) Murphy (POR) 3 Amedeka (SAR) Vancaeyezeele (BKN) de Vicente (OAK) Watters (SAR) Gavilanes (OMA) Cruz (TBR) Lewis (SPK) Holstad (RI) Úlfarsson (LDN) Stojanovic (BKN) Tekiela (OMA) Manske (MAD) Craig (IND) Nodarse (RI) Akinyode (LDN) O'Brien (IND) Anderson (BKN) Williams (HFD) Sanchez (NMU) 4 Levy (CLT) Mentzingen (DET) Romero (CLT) Sessock (LVL) Shashoua (BIR) Gil (SPK) Bailey (NMU) Bahena (AV) Wilson (LOU) Vassell (BIR) Brett (SPK) Knight (GVL) Ai. Rocha (COS) Knutson (MIA) Molloy (LEX) Blancas (MB) Carmichael (MAD) Ar. Rocha (MIA) Heaps (BIR)

References