> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bigdsoccer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # FC Dallas Is Going Back to the US Open Cup, and So Is Everyone Else - URL: https://www.bigdsoccer.com/fc-dallas-mls-us-open-cup-return-2027/ - Published: 2026-09-01T20:13:29.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-01T20:13:29.000Z - Description: All 27 US-based MLS teams, FC Dallas included, are set to return to the US Open Cup under a revamped format, per Backheeled. Here’s what it means for FCD. - Author: Drew Epperley - Tags: US Open Cup The US Open Cup will go back to having all 27 US-based Major League Soccer teams, including FC Dallas, beginning in 2027. According to a report on Tuesday from [Backheeled’s Joseph Lowery and Ben Wright](https://www.backheeled.com/sources-mls-teams-return-to-us-open-cup-new-format-details/?ref=bigdsoccer.com), all 27 US-based teams will return to the US Open Cup, ending a three-year stretch in which the league only sent a smaller set of clubs into the tournament. [The Athletic corroborated the reporting](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7556377/2026/09/01/mls-us-open-cup-leagues/?unlocked%5Farticle%5Fcode=1.91A.lIBP.fFkKKz4xD9LU&source=emp%5Fshared%5Farticle&smid=url-share-ta). FC Dallas, a club that missed out on participating in the US Open Cup in 2026, will go back to the tournament that is named after its founder Lamar Hunt. Let’s get into the details from the two reports. [![CTA Image](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9b/a4/9ba413bd-9ade-4977-b9cf-1a1e2ef6de5c/content/images/2026/05/Big_D_Soccer_minimal.svg)](#/portal/signup/free) Stay on top of every FC Dallas move this season. Free subscribers get breaking news straight to their inbox — no algorithm, no noise. [Subscribe today -> ](#/portal/signup/free) ## **What’s actually changing** The headline is full participation. Backheeled reports that all 27 US-based MLS teams will participate in the 2027 edition, the first time since the 2023 tournament. For the last few years, MLS has only sent a smaller number of teams, including just eight in 2026, as the league prioritized playing its clubs in the Leagues Cup over the country’s oldest trophy. There’s also a new shape to the tournament. Multiple sources say MLS clubs will enter the tournament in July, which will be in between the league’s new 2027 Sprint Season and the start of the new calendar switch. The final of the tournament will be pushed to December. The calendar switch for MLS does toss a big wrench in the annual calendar for the tournament, which typically starts in the early spring and runs through early September. The tournament could end up following a similar scheduling pattern to MLS’s new format down the road. ## **How we got here** If you need reminding why this is a story at all: MLS threw a bit of a hissy-fit a couple of years ago and nearly left the USOC altogether. After the 2023 tournament, which the Houston Dynamo won over Inter Miami (yeah, that is still painful to type Houston as a winner of anything), MLS announced it would [pull its first teams from the 2024 tournament](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/mls-pulls-teams-out-of-lamar-hunt-6709845f430f80001b575265/). It became a federation-vs-league standoff, complete with US Soccer pointing out that its own professional league standards require US-based teams to enter every competition they’re eligible for. MLS wanted to send MLS Next Pro reserve sides instead and cited concerns about presentation and professionalism of games often staged at smaller club’s venues. Translation: MLS didn’t love playing knockout ties in front of 5,000 people at lower-division grounds and possibly losing. Which is lame considering that is the charm of a tournament like the US Open Cup. ## **What it means for FC Dallas** This is good news for FC Dallas supporters, and probably a good thing for the club too since the trophy kind of has Uncle Lamar’s name on it and all. FC Dallas has taken the USOC seriously for its entire history, winning two titles and having nine trips to the semifinals. The club was disappointed to [not participate in the 2026 edition](https://www.bigdsoccer.com/fc-dallas-issues-statement-on-not-participating-in-the-2026-us-open-cup/). A full-strength US Open Cup also matters because of what’s on the other side of it: it has historically been the shortest and sometimes simplest route for a MLS team to get into the Concacaf Champions Cup. For a club like FC Dallas, a cup run is a viable trophy and a path to play continental football that doesn’t require winning a MLS Cup. The July entry in next year’s tournament could raise some questions about squad depth and rotation, but we’ll dwell on that when things become official. Those are probably we’re willing to take on over stressing about the Leagues Cup. ## **The bottom line** MLS spent the last couple of years insisting the Open Cup wasn’t worth every club’s time and cared more about the Leagues Cup (which is likely to get shifted to a January timeframe in 2028 from what we’ve been told). Nothing is official from the league or US soccer, and the calendar math does need sorted out a bit for everyone involved, not just the MLS teams. But for a club with two USOC titles in its cabinet, this is a return worth celebrating.