2024 U.S. Open Cup

The 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is the 109th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, the knockout domestic cup competition of American soccer.^[1] Houston Dynamo FC were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the round of 32 by Detroit City FC.^[2]

On December 15, 2023, Major League Soccer announced that its teams would not participate in the 2024 edition of the U.S. Open Cup due to fixture congestion. This would have been the first year since its inception that MLS teams would not participate in the tournament.^[3] The league intended to send reserve teams from MLS Next Pro instead, but the request was denied by the United States Soccer Federation on December 20.^[4] An agreement was tempered between the two sides in mid-February, whereby MLS will send some, but not all, of its teams to the Open Cup for 2024, with discussions ongoing for a long-term solution in 2025 and beyond.^[5] On March 1, 2024, the official format was announced, with eight MLS first teams and nine MLS Next Pro reserve teams taking part.^[6] This is the first edition of the U.S. Open Cup since 2011 where some MLS teams didn't take part in the competition^[7] and the first since 2015 where MLS reserve sides participated. With the exception of Houston Dynamo FC, the eight MLS teams that qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup did not participate, and the next seven highest-rated US-based clubs from the 2023 MLS rankings will field their first teams, while the rest of the MLS clubs will field their MLS Next Pro team (except for D.C. United, which does not have an MLS Next Pro team).^[6]