The 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament proper will feature teams from all five tiers of the men's American soccer pyramid.
Qualification for the 2019 tournament includes local qualifying matches contested by 94 amateur teams scheduled to take place in 2018.
[1] Clubs playing in fully professional leagues may enter the tournament proper and bypass the qualification process.
[2] U.S.-based teams in Division I, II and III professional leagues qualify for the U.S. Open Cup automatically, provided they are eligible.
To be eligible, these teams must be members in good standing of their leagues on December 31, 2018, and remain so through the 2019 U.S. Open Cup Final.
[3] The cup winner enters the tournament proper in the first round with the other Open Division clubs.
[4] National leagues determine their own procedures for ranking teams based on 2018 results for the purposes of 2019 U.S. Open Cup qualification.
Byes are distributed randomly and are meant to avoid unnecessary travel but are kept to a minimum to preserve the integrity of the qualification tournament.
[2] The NPSL ranked the top 30 of its 98 U.S.-based clubs based on results of its 2018 season for the purposes of qualification for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.
[2] Notes: USL League Two elected to use the results of the 2018 PDL regular season to rank its 69 U.S.-based teams for the purposes of qualification for the 2019 U.S. Open Cup.
[3] The seven winners of the fourth round of local qualifying will join them as the eight Open Division teams in the tournament proper.
Specialty Sports Association by the deadline for local amateur sides to participate in sanctioned league competition.