Win Or Go Home: USL Jägermeister Cup 102
USL Rhode Island FC

Win Or Go Home: USL Jägermeister Cup 102

Published on August 19, 2025 under United Soccer League Championship (USL)
Rhode Island FC News Release


The newly-expanded USL Jägermeister Cup's group stage has officially come to a close, and just eight teams out of the original 38-team field remain in the hunt for the USL's newest cup competition. While Rhode Island FC powered through the group stage and won Group 4 in dominant fashion, the real battle is just beginning. A quarterfinal clash vs. Birmingham Legion FC is set to take the field at Centreville Bank Stadium on Wednesday, and it's win or go home for Rhode Island FC with a spot in the Jägermeister Cup semifinal on the line.

REVIEW: WHAT IS THE JÄGERMEISTER CUP?

Following a successful inaugural tournament that featured all 12 teams from USL League One exclusively in 2024, the United Soccer League announced on Dec. 12, 2024 that all 24 USL Championship teams will join the newly-expanded Jägermeister Cup in 2025. The World Cup-style tournament marks the first time the U.S. Soccer Federation has established its own cup between two professional divisions.

The group stage of the tournament - which consisted of six regional groups, each made up of six or seven teams assigned by league or conference affiliation - kicked off on April 26 and concluded on July 26. After the group stage, which saw six group winners and two Wild Cards advance to the single-elimination knockout rounds, matchups for both the quarterfinal (Aug. 20) and semifinal (Sept. 10) stages of the competition are determined via a random draw rather than a bracket format. The draw determines both the matchups and hosting priority. The USL Jägermeister Cup will conclude with the Final on Oct. 4*. Rhode Island FC MUST win to advance to the semifinal round on Sept. 10, or it will be eliminated from the tournament.

In an effort to add more meaningful games to the schedule and promote attacking-minded soccer, the newly-expanded, World-Cup style tournament introduced a number of fan-first match modifications to the group stage, including penalty shootouts to determine match winners and goals scored as the first tiebreaker in the group standings. To learn more about the group stage of the tournament, see Jägermeister Cup 101.

*If Rhode Island FC were to advance to the final, its Oct. 5 USL Championship regular season game vs. Las Vegas Lights would be rescheduled to either Wednesday, Oct. 15 or Wednesday, Oct. 22.

THE KNOCKOUT STAGE: HOW DOES IT WORK?

At the conclusion of the group stage, all six group winners received automatic qualification to the quarterfinal knockout stage of the competition. In addition, the two best second-place teams received a Wild Card spot and advanced to the quarterfinal knockout stage to complete the eight-team knockout slate. Rhode Island FC won Group 4, and was drawn to host the quarterfinal. Birmingham Legion FC finished second in Group 3 and went through the First Wild Card, and was drawn as Rhode Island FC's opponent. Similarly to the group stage, Games that finish tied after 90 minutes will go directly to a penalty shootout to determine which team advances.

The randomly-selected quarterfinal matchups are below, with the hosting team listed first:

Rhode Island FC (Group 4 Winner) vs. Birmingham Legion FC (Wild Card 1)

Loudoun United FC (Group 5 Winner) vs. Sacramento Republic FC (Group 1 Winner)

Indy Eleven (Group 3 Winner) vs. Greenville Triumph (Group 6 Winner)

San Antonio FC (Group 2 Winner) vs. Hartford Athletic (Wild Card 2)

HOW IS RHODE ISLAND FC DOING IN THE JÄGERMEISTER CUP?

Rhode Island FC won Group 4 with 11 points and an unbeaten 3W-0L-1T record, finishing two points in front of second-place Hartford Athletic following a dramatic 2-2 tie in the group stage finale between the two regional rivals. The Ocean State club's attack has been consistently dominant with 4-1 wins over USL League One clubs Portland Hearts of Pine and Westchester SC, as well as a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. The two 4-1 wins matched the third-highest single-game goalscoring tally in club history, and firmly established Rhode Island FC as the team to beat in Group 4. The Ocean State club led the entire 38-team field with 11 goals through four group stage games.

WHAT DOES A CLUB GET FOR WINNING THE JÄGERMEISTER CUP? DOES IT COUNT TOWARD THE REGULAR SEASON?

The winner of the USL Jägermeister Cup receives a $100,000 cash prize and a Jägermeister prize pack. USL Jägermeister Cup games are contested solely for this grand prize and do not count towards the USL Championship or USL League One regular-season standings. Any yellow card cautions or red card suspensions issued in a USL Jägermeister game carry over to the next Jägermeister Cup game, and do not impact a player's standing in the regular season. All statistics are measured separately and do not count towards a player or team's regular-season statistics or the regular-season standings.

The only way a red card suspension can carry over into the regular season is if it is violent in nature or violates the League's zero tolerance policy. All red cards will be reviewed by the League Disciplinary Committee.

Check out the Rhode Island FC Statistics

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