Open Cup: Perusing the historic tournament's most successful clubs

Editor's note: This article originally ran ahead of the 2014 US Open Cup final and has been updated to reflect more recent results. Sporting Kansas City will host the New York Red Bulls in the 104th edition of the Open Cup final on Wednesday night (9 pm ET; ESPN2, ESPN Deportes).

The U.S. Open Cup is more than a century old, spanning several eras in soccer's long, convoluted history in the United States – and its record books reflect it.

While MLS clubs have seized a near-stranglehold on the Open Cup trophy in the modern era, the names of past winners like Bethlehem Steel, Maccabi Los Angeles, Brooklyn Italians, Greek-American AC, SC Eintracht and McIlvaine Canvasbacks conjure up visions of distant yore, harking back to times when the game inhabited some different spaces in this country than it does now. 

The Chicago Fire and Seattle Sounders FC can make a claim to be contemporary “Kings of the Cup” thanks to their four USOC titles apiece. But they – along with the rest of today's professional soccer landscape – haven't quite yet reached the heights scaled by their most accomplished predecessors in this tournament.

Bethlehem Steel –
whose legacy is savored and celebrated by two-time finalists
, the Philadelphia Union – and Maccabi Los Angeles remain the most successful teams in USOC history with five tournament championships apiece, while many historians would also place Fall River Marksmen on par with them as the Massachusetts side won five trophies under multiple identities between 1917 and 1931.

After receiving sponsorship from the steel company of the same name, Bethlehem built an impressive streak of dominance on either side of World War I in what was then known as the National Challenge Cup, winning the event in 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919 and 1926 while also finishing as runners-up in 1917.

Their New England rivals Fall River – another proud representative of an industrial town – produced similar excellence during the 1920s and '30s despite the recurring financial instability that saw them switch names from United to Marksmen in honor of benefactor Sam Mark in 1922 and later undergo multiple relocations. (Mark, by the way, built his team their own venue just across the state line in Rhode Island, one of the earliest known soccer-specific stadiums in the country.)

Half a century later, their achievements would be equaled by Maccabi Los Angeles, arguably an even quirkier footnote in the Open Cup's history.

Originally founded as a Sunday league team by Jewish immigrants and Israeli expatriates in Southern California, Maccabi began entering more competitive tournaments in 1971 and over the next decade, they made the National Challenge Cup their own, winning the 1973, 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1981 editions and coming in second place on two other occasions.

The Philadelphia Ukrainians were the Open Cup's heavyweights of the early '60s, winning four times and fielding famous names like Walter Bahr and Walt Chyzowych, while Greek American Atlas Astoria (also known as New York Greek American and still in operation on an amateur basis today) succeeded them with four titles between 1967 and 1974.

Among MLS clubs, only D.C. United (three-time champs), Sporting Kansas City (three Open Cup wins, if you count the 2004 edition claimed by their forbears the Wizards), and the LA Galaxy (two wins) can come close to the Fire and Sounders.

Past U.S. Open Cup Champions