In 1913, the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup began. The tournament pits teams from American men’s professional and amateur leagues against each other, with over 80 clubs competing in 2026. However, there is no such women’s specific cup competition in the U.S. The lack of such a tournament reveals a long history of inequality between the men’s and women’s games. After all, the National Women’s Soccer League began 13 years ago — the same year the Lamar Hunt cup celebrated its 100th birthday. Yet, today, perhaps more so than at any other point in this history of U.S. soccer, there exists an opportunity. It is time to create a cross-league women’s cup competition.
The history of women’s soccer in the United States is a turbulent one, filled with leagues folding, owners fleeing, players left without teams to play on, and an ever-present doubt in the minds of American power brokers that women’s soccer in the U.S. could ever become sustainable. Huge leaps have been made in the last ten years, and even just in the last five. The Gainbridge Super League, launched by USL, had brought eight new professional division one clubs to the United States. The USL W league, a pre-professional summer competition for college students, has exploded in popularity, with some teams rivaling NWSL clubs for attendance. Transfer fees are growing, the NWSL Player’s Association is forging a path for improved player rights, and streaming revenue is through the roof.
Yet the challenges have not disappeared. Just last year, the Spokane Zephyr, a member of the Super League, folded without notice, leaving players without income or club. Even while the club was actively operating, staff misreported hours, treated players poorly, and treated the women’s side as inferior to the club’s men’s team, which competes in the third division. Even clubs in the NWSL aren’t immune from difficulties. Racing Louisville’s ownership have been practically begging for someone to take the club off their hands for the past two years, while the North Carolina Courage have likewise been shopping around for investment in past seasons.
Finding ways to watch the NWSL requires combing through a catalogue of nearly every possible streaming service, a situation made more confusing after Victory+ failed to complete payments on time. The league’s deal with the service was cancelled, leading to a mid-season scramble to find a new home for Sunday night games. That resulted in NWSL games landing on the Roku Channel, hardly a premier service.
League classification is contentious, too, with leagues like USL W, the United Premier Soccer League, and the Women’s Premier Soccer League lacking the U.S. Soccer Federation’s sanctioning. While an NWSL second division has been planned, little is known about when or where it will kick off.
In comparison to years past, though, these challenges are preferable to ones that have been faced before. A team folding is heartbreaking for players, staff, and the local community, but there were times when entire leagues were folding. NWSL games on the Roku Channel may not be ideal, but at least the league has streaming deals. Even the mess that is USSF’s women’s soccer pyramid reflects a relative glut of opportunities for female athletes rather than a dearth. That is to say, despite the challenges, never before has there been a better opportunity to create a cross-league cup competition.
Cup competitions are integral to the footballing structure of European countries, and for good reason. They are an opportunity for upsets, uncommon matchups, and fairytale storylines. The U.S. has the most developed women’s pyramid of any country in the world, with two first division leagues competing concurrently for the first time in history. When the WPSL rolls out their Pro division, slated to kickoff next year, the country will have three USSF sanctioned leagues, and when the NWSL introduces their second division — which could occur as early as 2028 — that number will rise to four. Even without those leagues, the U.S. has plenty of teams and rabid fanbases that could make such a tournament an instant spectacle.
USL W sides Minnesota Aurora, Salmon Bay FC, and Vermont Green have already created stellar club atmospheres despite operating only three months out of the year. In the USL Super League, the Carolina Ascent and Lexington SC are regularly hosting thousands per game. We’ve already seen plenty of players move between these leagues — Maddie Mercado, Sam Meza, and Deborah Abiodun all became NWSL starters after stints in the Super League, while Hal Hershfelt, Elise Evans, and Ally Sentnor are all USL W alums. Now, we should be able to see these teams play against each other.
Such a tournament would increase attendances, bring fans to lower-league stadiums, and create a structure that links these leagues together in their burgeoning maturity. With the Super League changing its calendar schedule to better align with the NWSL, as well as the imminent introduction of newer leagues, now is the time. Conversations are already happening; sources told ESPN in May that U.S. Soccer had held discussions with the NWSL, Super League, and WPSL Pro about what a potential “open cup” would look like (though it likely wouldn’t be called an “open cup”).
The ambition to create a nearly first-of-its-kind tournament for women’s soccer, separate from any such traditions on the men’s side, feels almost too good to be true. Women’s soccer is now in a period where traditions are in the process of being established from the ground up. Such leagues, cups, tournaments, and one-off exhibitions have long existed on the men’s side. The women’s game now has the opportunity to decide which of those they want to adapt, and what those adaptations look like.
An open cup is the perfect addition to today’s landscape. Instead of separation between leagues, especially with the various governing bodies that control these competitions, an open cup offers cross-league collaboration and a sense of unity across the soccer landscape. Imagine a semifinal between the Ascent and Gotham FC, played in Charlotte. Or a match between the Aurora and Chicago Stars packing the 6,000-seat TCO Stadium. A rivalry could be sparked between Salmon Bay and the Seattle Reign, or perhaps an even closer sisterhood — the number of players who have connections to both clubs continues to rise. These kinds of relationships — rivalries, derbies, cross-club collaborations — are difficult to build artificially; they are best when sparked naturally, forged in competition.
An open cup is an incubator for these structures; more than anything, it builds legacy, community, and storylines, while providing a symbiotic experience between leagues. When fans attend an open cup match, they are exposed to both the lower league side and the more popular club. Fans become fans of more teams. Yes, revenue increases, too. But more importantly, the form of women’s soccer in the US begins to feel less like constantly clawing for survival and more like the developed, rich landscape that it is.
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Attempts have been made at open cups in the past. The USASA National Women’s Cup operated from 1996-2016 and primarily included amateur and semi-pro teams, with NWSL, Women’s United Soccer Association, and Women’s Professional Soccer teams not allowed to compete. It was, at the time, the premier women’s cup competition. That tournament no longer exists.
The question of what a potential open would look like now isn’t too hard to answer. A first edition could include some, but not all of the NWSL and USL Super League clubs (potentially decided by league standings), while future installments could incorporate all of these teams. A 16-team tournament with eight NWSL clubs, six USL Super League clubs, and two USL W clubs could be implemented next summer after the World Cup, which would require a total of 15 games, a manageable amount that could be scheduled midweek. That being said, fixture congestion pressures are inescapable when introducing new tournaments.
It is undeniable that adding yet another tournament to players’ already full schedules could lead to increased strain and injuries, yet these challenges are not unique to women’s soccer. Rather than be seen as an obstacle to adding more games, fixture congestion can instead be considered a consequence of growth — NWSL teams have gone from playing 20 games to 30 in 2026, necessitating larger rosters and more squad rotation. The Washington Spirit, who played the most games of any NWSL team in all competitions last season, including playoffs, Challenge Cup, and the CONCACAF W Champions Cup, played just 34 matches. MLS side Inter Miami, meanwhile, competed in 58 matches last season, enabled by the league’s 30-player roster cap, which is four greater than the NWSL’s limit. While a higher roster cap would likely require NWSLPA approval, increasing roster sizes benefits players and the league while reducing strain on players in the regular season and enabling more competitions like an open cup. These issues are real, but solvable; it’s simply a matter of ambition.
Travel would likely be a major obstacle, but requiring NWSL clubs — which carry larger budgets — to travel away, at least for the first round, could reduce this challenge and bring new fans to both the Super League and USL W. There is no doubt that the logistics would be difficult, but soccer is a game of logistics; every competition, roster decision, international camp, and theme night is determined by logistics. With USSF backing and buy-in from each league, the competition would be easily doable. In a women’s soccer world where there is a measure of stability, the foundation of what the sport might look like is in the process of being built.
Imagine, ten years ago, explaining the current soccer landscape to a fan. It is an understatement to say that this past decade has seen extraordinary development and the creation of multiple new leagues that are seemingly stable. Women’s soccer in the U.S. has reached maturity. What will the next decade look like? What developments can be made now to build the next steps for the sport? An open cup isn’t the entire answer, but it’s the beginning.
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