Philadelphia Union won’t be participating in 2026 U.S. Open Cup

West Chester United will be carrying the torch as the only Philadelphia area team in the 2026 edition of the U.S. Open Cup.

An announcement of a scaled back World Cup-year tournament was made on Thursday and it noted a “one-club, one-entry” rule limited professional clubs to only their highest-level team.

For the Philadelphia Union, this means they aren’t able to have Union II play in the competition in place of the first team, which isn’t in the field due to their qualification for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

The Union competed in the oldest competition in American soccer in 2025 after not being part of it in 2024. They advanced to the semifinals for the eighth time in club history but fell to Nashville, which went on to beat Austin FC in the final.

In total, the 2026 competition has been reduced by one round to seven and the number of professional teams has been scaled back from 64 to 48.

West Chester United automatically qualified for the competition by winning the 2025 National Amateur Cup. Oaklyn United was one win away from punching their ticket but came up short in the fourth and final round of qualifying.

The first round games will be played on March 17, 18 or 19 and will feature the Open Division qualifiers against professional teams. The first and second round draws will be announced in January.

West Chester is one of three Pennsylvania teams in the competition along with Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Steel City, which knocked Capital City Islanders en route to qualifying.