Atlanta United to compete in Leagues Cup in 2025 

With two massive global competitions this year and next, Major League Soccer announced Tuesday they have made some changes to how their clubs will participate in the four official North American cup competitions:

• Leagues Cup
• Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
• Canadian Championship
• Concacaf Champions Cup

Here’s how it will affect Atlanta United

Atlanta United will participate in Leagues Cup in 2025.

A total of 18 clubs, nine from each conference, will participate in the competition designed to pit MLS clubs against clubs from Liga MX. Atlanta United qualified as one of the top nine teams in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta finished the 2024 regular season in ninth place.

Joining Atlanta United are eight teams from the East: Charlotte FC, FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami, CF Montréal, New York City FC, New York Red Bulls, Orlando City and the defending Leagues Cup champion Columbus Crew.

The tournament will take place this summer, July 29-August 31. Atlanta United has four regular season matches during that window.

Which other North American competitions will Atlanta United participate in?

Besides Leagues Cup, Atlanta United will not participate in any of the other three, including this year’s U.S. Open Cup.

Qualification for the U.S. Open Cup was determined by three main criteria, laid out below.

• Only U.S.-based clubs are eligible to participate in the U.S. Open Cup.
• MLS teams not competing in either Leagues Cup or Concacaf Champions Cup automatically qualify for the U.S. Open Cup. For the 2025 tournament, this accounts for nine of the 16 MLS teams.
• The remaining teams are determined by Supporters’ Shield standings, excluding teams competing in Concacaf Champions Cup. For the 2025 tournament, this accounts for seven of the 16 MLS teams.

Atlanta United has competed in the U.S. Open Cup six times and most memorably lifted the trophy in 2019. When the tournament went on hiatus for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021), Atlanta United was the reigning champion until 2022 when Orlando City SC won.

What’s the timeline and why?

This change in qualification boils down to the fact that two global competitions will be taking place on our side of the world. In 2025, the United States is playing host to the FIFA Club World Cup. Then of course the United States along with Mexico and Canada are hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

And while this criteria applies to both 2025 and 2026, only the participants for 2025 have been determined. Next year in 2026 could mean a return to the U.S. Open Cup for Atlanta United. According to MLS, the process will be re-evaluated heading into 2027.