After finishing as the tournament runners-up last year, Austin FC is aiming to make another run at the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the country’s oldest and most prestigious national cup competition. The Verde & Black’s journey in the 2026 edition begins with a Round of 32 away match against Louisville City FC on Tuesday night, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT at Lynn Family Stadium.
Tune-InÂ
- TV: The match will feature a live national television broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
- Stream: Click here to watch the match on Paramount+.
- Radio: The match will be broadcast live locally in English on iHeart Radio’s Alt 97.5, and in Spanish on Univision’s TUDN Radio Austin (104.3-HD2, KLQB-FM).
Austin FC OutlookÂ
Austin will look to replicate the form that took the team to last season’s U.S. Open Cup Final, a road which – as they’ll need to do again this year – saw them win four consecutive single elimination games. In 2025’s Round of 32, the Verde & Black erased an early two-goal deficit against El Paso Locomotive FC to win 3-2, a good indicator of the threat USL opponents bring into these matches in hopes of pulling an upset.
ATXFC showed its ability to win tough knockout road games in the 2025 Open Cup. The team defeated San Jose away in the quarterfinals, twice coming from a goal down before winning a penalty shootout. CJ Fodrey then netted the latest goal in Club history in a semifinal victory at Minnesota United FC.
Success on Tuesday night would set up a Round of 16 clash on April 28 or 29, which would be either at Houston Dynamo FC or a rematch against El Paso at Q2 Stadium.
Louisville City FC OutlookÂ
Louisville is consistently one of the top teams in the USL Championship. The Kentucky club has finished in first place in the Eastern Conference in three of the last four seasons, including each of the last two while Austin FC goalkeeper Damian Las was on loan as their starter between the posts. They’re off to another strong start in league play this season with a 4-1-1 record.
In Open Cup play, Louisville reached the Round of 32 with a home victory over amateur side Southern Indiana and an away win over in-state rivals Lexington SC. It’s been attack by committee thus far with the team’s 14 league goals coming from 11 different players.
Though Austin and Louisville have never met in official competition, they have faced each other in all six of ATXFC’s preseasons. Austin earned a narrow 1-0 result back on January 28 in a closed-door match at St. David’s Performance Center.
