With Thursday’s release of U.S. Soccer’s Open Division qualification pathways for the 2027 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, all signs point to Steel City FC having to once again enter through the arduous open qualification process this fall to reach the tournament proper next spring.
2027 Qualification Process
Similar to 2026’s qualification process, U.S. Soccer is splitting the 32 available amateur slots in the 2027 Open Cup between the direct and indirect pathways, with 16 teams qualifying via each method. For 2027, direct qualification has changed slightly, with more league and cup champions earning spots, leaving fewer for teams qualifying via league performance in USL League Two, NPSL, and UPSL.
Of the 16 direct qualification slots, six will go to specific competition winners – one each to the champions of the USASA Amateur Cup, Hank Steinbrecher Cup, NPSL, USL League Two, The League for Clubs, and UPSL Spring Season. Additionally, one slot will go to the best-performing amateur team of the 2026 Open Cup – the John Motta Trophy winner – which was Asheville City SC. That leaves just nine more direct slots to be partitioned between the leagues based on historic participation, sporting excellence, and availability: the NSPL gets two, UPSL gets one, and USL League Two gets six.
Historically, USL League Two has attributed their league performance slots in order to the best division-winners by points-per-game. As it stands, Steel City FC has clinched the Great Forest Division title and can finish with a maximum of 30 points in 12 games (2.5 PPG). Unfortunately for the back-to-back champions, they face a similar situation to 2026, where too many clubs are mathematically guaranteed to finish ahead of them to earn one of the coveted direct qualification slots. This means that the only direct pathway slot Steel City FC can claim is the USL League Two championship – winning it all – otherwise, it’ll be back to fall qualifying.
What Happened in 2026?
The situation is a familiar one to Steel City, who also claimed the Great Forest Division title in 2025 as well, but fell short of the necessary points to directly qualify for the 2026 Open Cup. Luckily for the club, U.S. Soccer changed the open qualification rules, which had previously forbidden leagues with direct slots from also entering open qualifying in a given year. This enabled Steel City to shift approaches and register for the fall 2025 qualification tournament.
After a first qualifying round bye, Steel City entered qualification in the second round needing to win three consecutive matches to make it to the proper 2026 Open Cup rounds. Opening at home against FCY New York, Steel City survived a high-scoring 3-2 victory to advance. The next round also kept Steel City FC at home, though this time at Duquesne’s Rooney Field instead of their usual home at Founders Field in Cheswick, where they held on in a much more defensive 1-0 victory over the Capital City Islanders of the UPSL. Finally, Steel City went on the road to defeat local league opponents Croatia Cleveland, 3-2, and earn their berth in the 2026 Open Cup the hard way.
The hard-won qualification earned Steel City a treasured reward – a Pittsburgh derby showdown against the Riverhounds in the first round of the 2026 Open Cup at then-Highmark Stadium, the first all-Pittsburgh derby in 69 years. Despite coming up short, the game more than lived up to expectations, with the Hounds barely surviving the local challengers, 2-1, in a very hard-fought match with a healthy split among the crowd support.
What’s Next for Steel City?
The playoffs await for the Great Forest Division champions, where they and 34 other teams will start off by entering the Conference Playoffs next week beginning on July 13th. Currently, six of the eight participants for the Central Conference playoffs are known. Joining Steel City will be Minneapolis City SC, West Virginia United, Peoria City, Flint City Bucks, and FC Buffalo, along with two others to be determined. That lineup of clubs includes some of the best league-wide, giving Steel City a daunting task to make it through and earn a spot in the National Semifinals.
If they manage to do it, they’ll join the Eastern, Southern, and Western Conference winners in a four-team winner-takes-all national championship weekend. A pair of wins at this stage would secure the 2026 USL League Two title, as well as a direct berth into the 2027 Open Cup. If Steel City falter at any step prior to lifting the trophy, however, the club has confirmed to Pittsburgh Soccer Now that it does intend to enter Open Qualifying this fall to try and earn their way in on the field once again.
If it comes to that, U.S. Soccer has set the schedule for those matches. While we don’t know yet the number of clubs entering open qualifying, or who might earn first round – and perhaps even second round – byes, we do know when those rounds will take place. The window for the first round is September 12-13, followed by October 3-4 for the second round, October 31-November 1 for the third round, and November 21-22 for the fourth and final round of qualifying.
The registration window for open qualifying begins today, July 9, and extends through August 4 – three days after the USL League Two final (Aug 1). This means Steel City can wait and see, and maybe pull off an all-time great run, before getting their registration in to U.S. Soccer.
In any case, the club is determined to try and make a Battle of the Bridges derby an annual occurrence, and hopes to qualify and set up the next edition for the 2027 Open Cup next spring.
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