The 2025 USL Cup is the second edition of the USL Cup (known as the USL Jägermeister Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition is open to all clubs in USL Championship and USL League One.
Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC, the winner of the 2024 USL Cup, had their franchise agreement with the United Soccer League terminated and are unable to defend their title.
Format.
The 2025 edition of the USL Cup is a professional soccer tournament held between teams in USL Championship and USL League One. Teams are split into six groups of six to seven teams; each team will play two teams in their group at home, and two others away. The teams winning their group, along with the two teams with the most points among those that did not win their group, will move to a single-elimination knockout round.
Schedule.
The 2025 USL Cup will run concurrently with the 2025 USL Championship season and the 2025 USL League One season. The tournament will begin roughly two months into the league seasons and end shortly before the end of the league seasons and start of the league playoffs.
The groups for the 2025 USL Cup were announced on December 12, 2024, and the schedule was released on December 19, 2024.
Access.
All 24 clubs in USL Championship and 14 clubs in USL League One will enter the 2025 USL Cup in the group stage.
Group stage.
The group stage will be played from April 25 to July 26. Teams are divided into six regional groups of six or seven teams. Teams will play two teams in their group at home and two other teams away.
If a team wins in regulation, they will receive three points in the standings, while the loser will receive zero. If the game is tied at the end of regulation, a penalty kick shootout will occur; the winner will receive two points and the loser will receive one.
The top team in each group will reach a single-elimination knockout stage. Of the remaining teams, the two teams with the most points will also reach the knockout stage, with most goals scored being used as first tiebreaker.
Wild card.
Tiebreakers.
The ranking of teams for the knockout stage wild card is determined as follows:
Ranking of non-group leading teams.
"Only teams second in points in their group (or tied for second) are included in this table."
Statistics.
"As of ."
All statistics include both the group stage and knockout stage.
Top goalscorers.
"Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs are not counted towards players' goal counts or to match goal counts."
Most clean sheets.
"Goals allowed in penalty shoot-outs are not counted towards players' clean sheet totals."