USL Cup

The first USL Cup featured teams exclusively in USL League One; however, USL already intended to expand the cup beyond just that league. The format of the 2024 USL Cup allowed a balanced league schedule for the 2024 USL League One season, with each team playing each other twice and also preserving the length of the season. Previous to the creation of the USL Cup, the league had regularly played an unbalanced schedule of 28–32 games, often playing other teams in the league three times. O'Neill emphasized in USL's announcement of the tournament that the creation of the USL Cup would "open up more possibilities for the competitive structure going forward." The announcement also hinted that the tournament could be a precursor to a promotion and relegation system within the professional levels of the USL. The 2025 edition of the USL Cup saw the addition of USL Championship clubs to the competition, keeping a similar format to the previous year's edition. == Competition format ==

If a game is tied at the end of regulation, a penalty kick shootout will occur. A regulation win is worth three points, a shootout win worth two, and a shootout loss worth one. The first edition of the competition split the teams into three groups of four teams. Teams played the other three teams in their group twice, home and away. They played an additional two games against two teams in other groups, one at home and one away. The top team from each group, plus the team with the most goals scored that did not win their group, advanced to the knockout round. == Sponsorship ==

Jägermeister was announced as the title sponsor for the USL Cup on March 18, 2024, three months after the initial announcement of the tournament and one month before the competition's kickoff. The announcement of Jägermeister's sponsorship stated that it was a multi-year agreement. USL Championship president Paul McDonough confirmed in an interview with Sports Business Journal that the agreement with Jägermeister was for two seasons, running through the 2025 edition of the competition. A lawsuit by ownership of Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC placed the cost of the sponsorship at $300,000 per year. On December 16, 2025, USL announced that the USL Cup would be sponsored by Prinx Tires for its 2026 edition. == Broadcasting ==

In February 2024, USL announced that ESPN+ would be the exclusive broadcaster for all matches in the 2024 USL Cup. For the 2025 USL Cup, games will continue to be broadcast by ESPN+, with the possibility of also being aired by various CBS networks. == List of USL Cup finals ==

• The "Season" column refers to the season the competition was held, and wikilinks to the article about that season. == Winners and finalists ==