2024 USL Cup

Not to be confused with 2024 USL League One playoffs.

The 2024 USL Cup was the first edition of the USL Cup (known as the USL Jägermeister Cup for sponsorship reasons). The competition was open to all clubs in USL League One.

2024 USL Cup

USL Jägermeister Cup
Tournament details
Country	United States
Dates	April 27, 2024 (2024-04-27) – September 28, 2024 (2024-09-28)
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (1st title)
Runner-up	Forward Madison FC
Semifinalists	Charlotte Independence Union Omaha
Tournament statistics
Matches played	51
Goals scored	140 (2.75 per match)
Attendance	115,803 (2,271 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)	Bruno Rendón (9 goals)
2025 →

Format

The 2024 edition of the USL Cup was a professional soccer tournament held between teams in USL League One.^[1] Richmond Kickers chairman Rob Ukrop stated after the announcement of the USL Cup that another league had been invited to participate, but declined the opportunity.^[2]

Schedule

The 2024 USL Cup ran concurrently with the 2024 USL League One season. The tournament began roughly two months into the league season and ended one month before the end of the league season and start of the league playoffs.

The schedule for 2024 USL Cup group stage games was announced simultaneously with the USL League One league schedule on December 14, 2023.^[3]

Prize money

The announcement of the USL Cup stated that the winning club would receive prize money, but did not specify the amount.^[1] In a November 2024 court case, Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC ownership claimed that the winners of the competition would receive $100,000 and the runners-up would receive $25,000, but that USL did not pay Northern Colorado the winners' prize money.^[4]

Access

All 12 clubs in USL League One entered the season's USL Cup into the group stage.

Round	Entrants	Number of games	Date(s)
Group stage (12 clubs)	12 clubs from USL League One	48	April 27, 2024 (2024-04-27) – September 1, 2024 (2024-09-01)
Semifinals (4 clubs)	3 group stage winners 1 wild card winner	2	September 11, 2024 (2024-09-11)
Final (2 clubs)	2 winners from semifinals	1	September 28, 2024 (2024-09-28)

Location map

Central Valley

Northern Colorado

Spokane

Omaha

Chattanooga

Madison

Lexington

Knoxville

Charlotte

Greenville

Richmond

South Georgia

Locations of teams in the 2024 USL Cup

• West Group
• Central Group
• East Group

Group stage

The group stage was played from April 27 to September 1. Teams were divided into three regional groups of four teams: the West Group, the Central Group, and the East Group. Teams in each group played each other twice, once at home and once away. Each team also played two teams from other groups; one team at home and the other away.

If a team won in regulation, they received three points in the standings, while the loser received zero. If the game was tied at the end of regulation, a penalty kick shootout occurred; the winner received two points and the loser received one.

The top team in each group reached the knockout stage. Of the other nine teams, the team that scored the most goals also reached the knockout stage.^[1]

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined as follows:^[5]

1. Points obtained in all matches (three points for a win, two for a penalty shootout win, one for a penalty shootout loss, none for a defeat);
2. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
3. Total regulation wins in group play;
4. Total regulation wins in all matches;
5. Number of goals scored in group play;
6. Number of goals scored in all matches;
7. Number of assists in all matches;
8. Goal difference in all matches;
9. Fewest number of disciplinary points;
10. Coin toss.

West Group

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PKW	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	8	6	1	1	0	22	10	+12	21	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Union Omaha	8	3	2	1	2	16	13	+3	14	Advanced to knockout stage (wild card)
3	Central Valley Fuego FC	8	1	1	3	3	8	10	−2	8
4	Spokane Velocity FC	8	1	0	2	5	9	17	−8	5

Source: USL League One

Results table

Color key: Home  • Away  • Win  • Shootout win  • Shootout loss  • Loss
Club	Matches
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Central Valley Fuego FC (CV)	SPK	LEX	OMA	NCO	TRM	SPK	OMA	NCO
	1–1 (4–2)	2–2 (1–4)	0–0 (1–4)	3–4	1–1 (4–5)	1–0	0–1	0–1
Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC (NCO)	OMA	KNX	CLT	CV	SPK	OMA	SPK	CV
	2–2 (2–3)	5–1	2–2 (4–2)	4–3	3–1	2–0	3–1	1–0
Spokane Velocity FC (SPK)	CV	OMA	GVL	OMA	NCO	CV	NCO	RIC
	1–1 (2–4)	3–2	0–0 (4–5)	1–4	1–3	0–1	1–3	2–3
Union Omaha (OMA)	NCO	SPK	CV	SPK	CHA	NCO	CV	MAD
	2–2 (3–2)	2–3	0–0 (4–1)	4–1	4–2	0–2	1–0	3–3 (4–5)

Central Group

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PKW	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Forward Madison FC	8	5	1	0	2	10	8	+2	17	Advanced to knockout stage
2	One Knoxville SC	8	4	1	1	2	8	7	+1	15
3	Lexington SC	8	3	2	1	2	10	10	0	14
4	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	8	1	1	1	5	10	15	−5	6

Source: USL League One

Results table

Color key: Home  • Away  • Win  • Shootout win  • Shootout loss  • Loss
Club	Matches
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC (CHA)	KNX	RIC	LEX	MAD	OMA	KNX	MAD	LEX
	0–1	1–0	3–4	0–1	2–4	1–1 (3–4)	1–2	2–2 (10–9)
Forward Madison FC (MAD)	LEX	CLT	KNX	CHT	KNX	LEX	CHT	OMA
	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–0	2–1	3–3 (5–4)
Lexington SC (LEX)	MAD	CV	CHA	KNX	GVL	MAD	KNX	CHA
	1–0	2–2 (4–1)	4–3	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–0 (5–3)	2–2 (9–10)
One Knoxville SC (KNX)	CHA	NCO	MAD	LEX	MAD	CHA	LEX	TRM
	1–0	1–5	0–1	2–0	2–0	1–1 (4–3)	0–0 (3–5)	1–0

East Group

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PKW	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Charlotte Independence	8	3	1	3	1	11	9	+2	14	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Greenville Triumph SC	8	3	1	1	3	10	8	+2	12
3	Richmond Kickers	8	2	3	0	3	9	11	−2	12
4	South Georgia Tormenta FC	8	0	2	2	4	8	13	−5	6

Source: USL League One

Results table

Color key: Home  • Away  • Win  • Shootout win  • Shootout loss  • Loss
Club	Matches
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Charlotte Independence (CLT)	TRM	MAD	NCO	RIC	RIC	TRM	GVL	GVL
	1–1 (5–4)	1–2	2–2 (2–4)	1–0	2–2 (4–5)	1–1 (2–3)	2–1	1–0
Greenville Triumph SC (GVL)	RIC	TRM	SPK	TRM	LEX	RIC	CLT	CLT
	1–1 (3–5)	3–2	0–0 (5–4)	3–1	0–1	2–0	1–2	0–1
Richmond Kickers (RIC)	GVL	CHA	TRM	CLT	CLT	GVL	TRM	SPK
	1–1 (5–3)	0–1	2–1	0–1	2–2 (5–4)	0–2	1–1 (6–5)	3–2
South Georgia Tormenta FC (TRM)	CLT	GVL	RIC	GVL	CV	CLT	RIC	KNX
	1–1 (4–5)	2–3	1–2	1–3	1–1 (5–4)	1–1 (3–2)	1–1 (5–6)	0–1

Wild card

Tiebreakers

The ranking of teams for the knockout stage wild card is determined as follows:^[5]

1. Number of goals scored in all matches;
2. Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question, if the teams are in the same group;
3. Total regulation wins in group play, if the teams are in the same group;
4. Total regulation wins in all matches;
5. Number of goals scored in group play, if the teams are in the same group;
6. Number of assists in all matches;
7. Goal difference in all matches;
8. Fewest number of disciplinary points;
9. Coin toss.

Ranking of non-group leading teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	PKW	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	West	Union Omaha	8	3	2	1	2	16	13	+3	14	Advanced to knockout stage
2	Central	Lexington SC	8	3	2	1	2	10	10	0	14
3	East	Greenville Triumph SC	8	3	1	1	3	10	8	+2	12
4	Central	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	8	1	1	1	5	10	15	−5	6
5	East	Richmond Kickers	8	2	3	0	3	9	11	−2	12
6	West	Spokane Velocity FC	8	1	0	2	5	9	17	−8	5
7	Central	One Knoxville SC	8	4	1	1	2	8	7	+1	15
8	West	Central Valley Fuego FC	8	1	1	3	3	8	10	−2	8
9	East	South Georgia Tormenta FC	8	0	2	2	4	8	13	−5	6

Source: USL League One

Knockout stage

The winner of each group, as well as the team who scored the most goals in the competition that did not win their group, progressed to the knockout stage.

	Semifinals September 11					Final September 28
	W1	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	2
	WC	Union Omaha	0
						W1	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	1(5)
						C1	Forward Madison FC	1(4)
	C1	Forward Madison FC	2
	E1	Charlotte Independence	1

Semifinals

Forward Madison FC	2−1	Charlotte Independence
Osmond 34' Chaney 47'	Report	Álvarez 45+2'

September 11, 2024 (2024-09-11)

6:00 PM CDT

Breese Stevens Field, Madison, Wisconsin

Attendance: 1,483

Referee: Joshua Encarnación

---

Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	2–0	Union Omaha
Hoard 56' Rendón 72'	Report

September 11, 2024 (2024-09-11)

7:56 PM MDT

4Rivers Equipment Stadium, Windsor, Colorado

Attendance: 1,657

Referee: Ekaterina Koroleva

Final

Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	1−1	Forward Madison FC
Rendón 12'	Report	Chaney 9'
Penalties
Langlois Hernández Powder García Hoard	5−4	Boyce McLaughlin Mesias Crull Chaney

September 28, 2024 (2024-09-28)

7:00 PM MDT

4Rivers Equipment Stadium, Windsor, Colorado

Attendance: 3,550

Referee: Greg Dopka

Statistics

All statistics include both the group stage and knockout stage.^[6][7]

Top goalscorers

Goals scored in penalty shoot-outs are not counted towards players' goal counts or to match goal counts.

  Team eliminated for this round.

Rank	Player	Team	Goals	By round
				M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M6	M7	M8	SF	F
1	Bruno Rendón	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	9	1	2	1	1	1		1		1	1
2	Ethan Hoard	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	6	1	1		1	1		1		1
3	Steevan Dos Santos	Union Omaha	5				1	2		1	1
4	Luis Álvarez	Charlotte Independence	4			1			1	1		1
	Christian Chaney	Forward Madison FC			1						1	1	1
	Pedro Dolabella	Union Omaha			1		1	1			1
	Luis Gil	Spokane Velocity FC			1		1	1		1
	Lyam MacKinnon	Greenville Triumph SC			1		2			1
	Missael Rodríguez	Union Omaha		2	1		1
10	Ates Diouf	Lexington SC	3		1	1		1
	Cameron Lancaster	Lexington SC			1	1					1
	Juan Carlos Obregón	Charlotte Independence		1	1		1

Most clean sheets

Goals allowed in penalty shoot-outs are not counted towards players' clean sheet totals.

  Team eliminated for this round.

Rank	Player	Team	Shutouts	By stage
				GS	KS
1	Johan Garibay	One Knoxville SC	4	4
2	Amal Knight	Lexington SC	3	3
	Bernd Schipmann	Forward Madison FC		3	0
4	Carlos Avilez	Central Valley Fuego FC	2	2
	Edward Delgado	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC		1	1
	Wallis Lapsley	Union Omaha		2	0
	Austin Pack	Charlotte Independence		2	0

Awards

Player of the Round

Round	Position	Player	Club	Reason	Ref.
1	FW	Missael Rodríguez	Union Omaha	2 goals vs. Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	[8]
2	MF	Bruno Rendón	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	2 goals, 1 assist vs. One Knoxville SC	[9]
3	FW	Mayele Malango	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	2 goals, 1 assist vs. Lexington SC	[10]
4	FW	Lyam MacKinnon	Greenville Triumph SC	2 goals vs. South Georgia Tormenta FC	[11]
5	FW	Nil Vinyals	Richmond Kickers	2 goals vs. Charlotte Independence	[12]
6	FW	Shavon John-Brown	Central Valley Fuego FC	Game-winning goal vs. Spokane Velocity FC	[13]
7	FW	Steevan Dos Santos	Union Omaha	Game-winning goal vs. Central Valley Fuego FC	[14]
8	FW	Chandler O'Dwyer	Richmond Kickers	2 goals vs. Spokane Velocity FC	[15]

Goal of the Round

Round	Player	Club	Opponent	Ref.
1	Pierre Reedy	Spokane Velocity FC	Central Valley Fuego FC	[16]
2	Haruki Yamazaki	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	One Knoxville SC	[17]
3	Adrian Billhardt	Richmond Kickers	South Georgia Tormenta FC	[18]
4	Juan Galindrez	Forward Madison FC	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	[19]
5	Nil Vinyals	Richmond Kickers	Charlotte Independence	[20]
6	Pascal Corvino	Greenville Triumph SC	Richmond Kickers	[21]
7	Devin Boyce	Forward Madison FC	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	[22]
8	Steevan Dos Santos	Union Omaha	Forward Madison FC	[23]

Save of the Round

Round	Player	Club	Opponent	Ref.
1	Wallis Lapsley	Union Omaha	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	[24]
2	Ryan Shellow	Richmond Kickers	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	[25]
3	Carlos Merancio	Spokane Velocity FC	Greenville Triumph SC	[26]
4	TJ Bush	Chattanooga Red Wolves SC	Forward Madison FC	[27]
5	Lalo Delgado	Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC	Spokane Velocity FC	[28]
6	Amal Knight	Lexington SC	Forward Madison FC	[29]
7	Wallis Lapsley	Union Omaha	Central Valley Fuego FC	[30]
8	Bernd Schipmann	Forward Madison FC	Union Omaha	[31]

Team of the Round

Player of the Round denoted in Bold.

Round	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Bench	Coach	Ref.
1	Knight (LEX)	Corrales (LEX) Fox (LEX) Skelton (KNX)	Jiba (OMA) C. Johnson (KNX) Lee (GVL) Rendón (NCO)	Hoard (NCO) Obregón (CLT) Rodríguez (OMA)	Álvarez (CLT) Coronado (CV) Fonseca (TRM) John-Brown (CV) Lapsley (OMA) Longmire (SPK) Mastrantonio (OMA)	Powell (LEX)	[8]
2	Bush (CHA)	Métanire (SPK) Midence (CV) Smith (GVL) Yamazaki (NCO)	Lewis (SPK) MacKinnon (GVL) Martinez (NCO) Rendón (NCO)	Chaney (MAD) Rodríguez (OMA)	Delgado (NCO) Dengler (TRM) Dolabella (OMA) Fitch (RIC) Hoard (NCO) Obregón (CLT) Waldeck (SPK)	Zayed (NCO)	[9]
3	Merancio (SPK)	John-Brown (CV) Longmire (SPK) Polak (GVL)	Álvarez (CLT) Diouf (LEX) Langlois (NCO) Rendón (NCO)	Billhardt (RIC) Malango (CHA) Obertan (CLT)	Fernandez (SPK) Lancaster (LEX) Martinez (NCO) Onen (LEX) Rankenburg (GVL) Smith (GVL) Vinyals (RIC)	Zayed (NCO)	[10]
4	Pack (CLT)	Crisler (KNX) Opara (NCO) Sousa (MAD)	Coronado (CV) King (NCO) PC (OMA) Rendón (NCO)	Dos Santos (OMA) Hoard (NCO) MacKinnon (GVL)	Álvarez (CLT) Castro (GVL) Dietrich (NCO) Garibay (KNX) Mendiola (CV) Rodríguez (OMA) Sorenson (CLT)	Wright (GVL)	[11]
5	Knight (LEX)	John-Brown (CV) Malone (OMA) Ritchie (KNX)	J. Johnson (CLT) Lukic (CHA) Obertan (CLT) Rendón (NCO)	Dos Santos (OMA) Hoard (NCO) Vinyals (RIC)	Dolabella (OMA) Gallardo (OMA) Gil (SPK) Rodríguez (OMA) Romig (TRM) Ross (KNX) Yamazaki (NCO)	Powell (LEX)	[12]
6	Bush (CHA)	Crisler (KNX) Evans (NCO) Opara (NCO) Osmond (MAD) Álvarez (CLT)	Anderson (GVL) Hernández (CHA) King (NCO) MacKinnon (GVL)	John-Brown (CV)	Anguiano (GVL) Billhardt (RIC) Dutey (CLT) Méndez (LEX) Pack (CLT) Shultz (GVL) Yamazaki (NCO)	Zayed (NCO)	[13]
7	Lapsley (OMA)	Clarke (NCO) Corrales (LEX) Dengler (TRM)	Anguiano (GVL) Boyce (MAD) MacKinnon (GVL) Yamazaki (NCO)	Dos Santos (OMA) McLaughlin (MAD) Obregón (CLT)	Álvarez (CLT) Gil (SPK) Hoard (NCO) Knight (LEX) Rendón (NCO) Spielman (CLT) Terzaghi (RIC)	Jeffries (CLT)	[14]
8	Shealy (NCO)	García (NCO) Lue Young (LEX) Miller (SPK) Skelton (KNX)	Cerritos (LEX) Gomiero (RIC) Villalobos (MAD)	Chaney (MAD) Dos Santos (OMA) O'Dwyer (RIC)	Calixtro (KNX) Corea (CLT) Lancaster (LEX) Obregón (CLT) Pack (CLT) Torr (CV) Waldeck (SPK)	Zayed (NCO)	[15]