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Wikipedia - USL Cup
The USL Cup is an annual soccer competition in men's domestic American soccer. The USL Cup is currently known as the USL Jägermeister Cup after its title sponsor, Jägermeister. The competition is open to all clubs in USL Championship and USL League One.
History
The first USL Cup featured teams exclusively in USL League One; however, USL already intended to expand the cup beyond just that league. Richmond Kickers chairman Rob Ukrop stated at the time of the announcement that another league had been invited to participate, but wasn't “ready to jump in yet.”
The format of the 2024 USL Cup allowed a balanced league schedule for the 2024 USL League One season, with each team playing each other twice and also preserving the length of the season. Previous to the creation of the USL Cup, the league had regularly played an unbalanced schedule of 28–32 games, often playing other teams in the league three times. The introduction of USL Championship sides into the competition in 2025 re-introduced an unbalanced schedule to USL League One.
In an interview, USL Championship president Jeremy Alumbaugh and USL League One president Lee O'Neill stated that both USL Championship and USL League Two were being considered to enter the competition in future years. However, the USL Cup was not considered to be a replacement for the U.S. Open Cup, and USL teams would continue competing in future U.S. Open Cup tournaments.
O'Neill emphasized in USL's announcement of the tournament that the creation of the USL Cup would "open up more possibilities for the competitive structure going forward." The announcement also hinted that the tournament could be a precursor to a promotion and relegation system within the professional levels of the USL.
The 2025 edition of the USL Cup saw the addition of USL Championship clubs to the competition, keeping a similar format to the previous year's edition.