Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup, is a knock-out cup competition in American soccer. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in the U.S. and the world's third-longest-running open soccer tournament. The 102nd edition, to be held in 2015, is expected to be contested by 91 clubs from the three professional leagues sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, including Major League Soccer, the North American Soccer League, and the United Soccer League, and amateur clubs in the earlier rounds of the tournament after qualifying through their leagues. The overall champion earn a total of $250,000 in prize money, while the runner-up receives $60,000 and the furthest-advancing team from each lower division league receive $15,000. In addition, the tournament winner qualifies for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.

The competition was first held during the 1913–14 season as the National Challenge Cup, with Brooklyn Field Club winning a trophy donated by Thomas Dewar for the promotion of American soccer. It was renamed to the U.S. Open Cup in 1990 and then dedicated to MLS owner Lamar Hunt by the United States Soccer Federation in 1999.

United States Soccer Federation

Coordinates: 41°51′28″N 87°37′14″W / 41.857768°N 87.620445°W / 41.857768; -87.620445

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. With headquarters in Chicago, Illinois, the FIFA member governs U.S. amateur and professional soccer, including the men's, women's, youth, beach soccer, futsal and Paralympic national teams. U.S. Soccer sanctions referees and soccer tournaments for most soccer leagues in the United States. The U.S. Soccer Federation also administers and operates the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which was first held in 1914.

Organization and governance

U.S. Soccer is governed by a Board of Directors, led by President Sunil Gulati and Executive Vice President Mike Edwards. Dan Flynn is the CEO and Secretary General. The Board administers the affairs of U.S. Soccer.

U.S. Soccer is a member of international soccer bodies FIFA and CONCACAF, and also has a relationship with the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee.

U.S. Open

The term U.S. Open or US Open is applied to "open" United States-hosted championships in a particular sport (or non-sport organized competitive gaming activity), in which anyone, amateur or professional, American or non-American, and generally, male or female, may compete.

The term most commonly refers to:

Other uses include (in alphabetical order by sport/game):

Lamar Hunt

Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American sportsman and promoter of American football, soccer, basketball, tennis and ice hockey in the United States and an inductee into three sports' halls of fame. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as the MLS predecessor, the North American Soccer League (NASL). Hunt co-founded World Championship Tennis, and was also the founder and owner of the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL), the Kansas City Wizards of MLS, and at his death owned two MLS teams, Columbus Crew and FC Dallas. The oldest ongoing national soccer tournament in the United States, the U.S. Open Cup (founded 1914,) now bears his name in honor of his pioneering role in that sport stateside. In Kansas City, Hunt also helped establish the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun theme parks. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1972; into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1982; and into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. The National Soccer Hall of Fame bestowed upon Hunt their Medal of Honor in 1999, an award given to only three recipients in history thus far. He was married for 42 years to his second wife Norma, and had four children, Sharron, Lamar Jr., Daniel, and Clark Hunt.

Single-elimination tournament

A single-elimination tournament — also called an Olympic system tournament, a knockout (or, knock-out), single penetration, or sudden death tournament — is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each bracket is immediately eliminated from winning the championship or first prize in the event.

This does not always mean that the defeated competitor will not participate further in the tournament; in some such tournaments, consolation or "classification" contests are subsequently held among those already defeated to determine the awarding of lesser places, for example, a third place playoff. Where more than two competitors can play in each match, such as in a shootout poker tournament, players are removed when they can no longer play until one player remains from the group. This player moves on to the next round.

Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage called playoffs.