Where Atlanta United falls in new MLS cup competition qualification mess

It's complicated and weird.

Major League Soccer’s relationship with cup competitions continues to get weirder and more complex. After threatening to pull completely out of the U.S. Open Cup last year, the league has announced a new qualification system for cups outside of MLS play for the next two years.

Frankly, it’s not worth my time rehashing every new bullet point of the confusing qualification system. If you wish to read them point by point, you can do so here.

What you need to know as an Atlanta United fan is that the club will not be participating in the U.S. Open Cup for the first time in their existence. MLS preferred to put their Top 9 teams from each conference (not including Canadian teams) into the Leagues Cup, a tournament in which they have a vested interest in, instead.

Going forward, only 18 MLS clubs will compete in Leagues Cup, while 16 will play in the U.S. Open Cup.

Atlanta United seems to have fallen in the gray area of not being good enough to qualify for the Concacaf Champions Cup, good enough to qualify for Leagues Cup, but not good enough to make the cut for the USOC. In the future, the Five Stripes will have a chance to play in two of the three competitions, based on how they finish in the Supporters’ Shield standings. No MLS team will play in all three.

Fixture congestion is a problem, but there seems to be a clear disconnect between how MLS wants to solve this problem and what the majority of supporters want to see. No matter what your thoughts are on the different cup competitions, I’m not sure this contrived qualification system that deprives fan bases of different and unique experiences is the way to go.