Photo Paul Rudderow

On Tuesday afternoon, January 28, the other shoes dropped about the rest of the Philadelphia Union’s 2025 schedule. We refer to its participation or non-participation in the various cup competitions that run concurrently with Major League Soccer’s regular season.  Those concurrent 2025 events are:

• The Concacaf Champions Cup
• The Leagues Cup
• The Lamar Hunt U. S. Open Cup

We direct those interested in authoritative and comprehensive information to the articles published by Major League Soccer (click here), and by U. S. Soccer itself (click here).

Greater Philadelphia’s role

We report how the two Philadelphia teams involved will participate, … in what, when, and — if it is known — where.

For 2025, no Philadelphia-area teams qualified for either the Concacaf Champions Cup or the Leagues Cup. The Leagues Cup has shrunk to 18 MLS participants for 2025 and 2026 to accommodate the extra games added by the major FIFA events occurring in those two years.

West Chester United SC Predators of West Chester, Chester County, and the Philadelphia Union of Chester, Delaware County, will participate in the 2025 U. S. Open Cup.

West Chester United is one of 32 Open Division amateur sides to qualify for Round One as part of the 2025 tournament’s 96-team field. Their opening single elimination match will be played between Tuesday, March 18, and Thursday, March 20, inclusive. The yet-to-occur Round One draw will determine whether West Chester will be home or away.

The Philadelphia Union qualifies as one of the 16 Division I MLS professional sides that will enter the tournament in the fourth round, customarily called the Round of 32.  They are one of the MLS teams selected to host their Round of 32 match. The match will occur either Tuesday, May 6, or Wednesday, May 7. In its MLS regular season schedule, the Union is away to Montreal the previous Saturday, May 3, and home to Columbus the following Saturday, May 10. The Open Cup game and the Columbus match will both be played on short rest.

Because Philadelphia’s first team is playing in the Open Cup, long-standing U. S. Open Cup usage excludes Philadelphia’s second team from participating.