Cleveland City Stars are the Professional United Soccer Leagues

2009 was the third straight season that the City Stars advanced past the first round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The City Stars defeated the St. Louis Lions of the PDL 3-0 in the first round at Middlefield Cheese Stadium. The match was the first U.S. Open Cup match to be played in Cleveland during the professional era of the Open Cup (1995-present). The City Stars fell 2-1 in overtime to the Rochester Rhinos on Tuesday June 16th in the second round of the 2009 U.S. Open Cup.

The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the U.S. Soccer Federation's National Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. It is the oldest annual team tournament in U.S. sports history and among the oldest soccer tournaments of its type in the world. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor long-time soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.

Composition of participating teams:
8 Major League Soccer
8 United Soccer Leagues First Division
8 United Soccer Leagues Second Division
16 Amateur (8 USL Premier Development League, 8 USASA regional qualifiers)
Total Number of Teams: 40
Total Number of Games: 39

In 2008, Cleveland traveled to Pontiac, MI to take on the Michigan Bucks of the PDL and came home with a 2-1 victory. The City Stars then traveled to USL-1 side Minnesota Thunder where Cleveland upset the Thunder 2-0 in overtime.

The City Stars next traveled to Chicago to take on the Chicago Fire in Toyota Park. The great run for the City Stars ended with a 4-1 loss to the Fire.

In 2007, Cleveland traveled to Kansas City, MO to take on the Kansas City Brass (PDL) where the City Stars were a 4-0 winner.  The City Stars lost in the second round to the Richmond Kickers 1-0.

Within the U.S. Open Cup framework, teams compete in one of the following four categories: professional outdoor Division I (Major League Soccer), Division II (USL First Division) or Division III (USL Second Division); or Amateur Division (USL Premier Development League & U.S. Adult Soccer Association). 

The U.S. Open Cup is a single-elimination tournament, with games tied after regulation being decided in two 15-minute overtime halves. If neither team scores during the overtime period, the winner is decided on penalty kicks. The team that advances the furthest from each level except Division I earns a $10,000 cash prize. The runner-up takes home $50,000, while the champion collects $100,000. The winner also will have the team’s name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, the oldest trophy in American team sports that is housed in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, N.Y.