US Open Cup roster builds in the Leagues Cup era

Different approaches from different clubs

Before Leagues Cup was a thing, the US Open Cup started late enough that qualified adult-amateur teams usually had the bulk of their rosters available for the first round proper of the competition.

Yes, they were a few players particularly college players at schools whose spring semesters extended into May that weren’t available but by and large clubs were able to field competitive teams based on either the teams that they had used to qualify for the tournament or the teams they intended to play with in their summer leagues.

With the first round now in March, thanks to Leagues Cup, adult-amateur clubs have had to scramble to construct rosters.

Yet nearly 25% of them still advanced beyond the first round, defeating professional teams in round one as well as several other teams that were unlucky not to advance.

How did they do it?

Some clubs used ex-pros (Sacha Kljestan was the most famous of these but not the only one) while others found loopholes to bring in active college players. Still others used this as an exercise to build a roster for the upcoming 2024 summer seasons.

(This post unlocks for free subscribers on Thursday March 28)