New in-season cup competition begins Saturday
Greenville, SC (April 23, 2024)- This Saturday, a new competition kicks off for the Greenville Triumph and USL League One. Dubbed the Jägermeister Cup, the tournament competition is set to begin this Saturday with Greenville versus Richmond at Furman’s Paladin Stadium. Saturday’s match is the first of eight group stage matches in the tournament, with four at home and four on the road. Greenville is slated to play six matches against opponents in the Eastern pod of the tournament with Charlotte, Richmond and Tormenta FC, and two additional matches against Lexington and Spokane Velocity, for a total of eight fixtures.
Similar to a traditional World Cup-style format, the cup competition includes a group stage and a knockout round that creates additional matches of consequence in the annual calendar. The group stage will finish the weekend of Aug. 31 and the final will be held on Sept. 28 or 29.
It also includes non-traditional modifications that encourage attacking soccer and provide entertaining moments for fans. These include:
- An emphasis on goals: Goals scored will be the first tiebreaker in group standings and will determine one of the four spots in the knockout round. The three group winners will advance to the knockout rounds, and the fourth playoff spot will be awarded to the non-group winners with the most goals scored in group play.
- Shootout drama: Matches that finish tied at the end of regulation time will go directly to a penalty-kick shootout, with the shootout winners earning an extra point. Shootout losers will still earn one point for the draw in regulation time.
