For the first time in professional sports history, a team from Tennessee is a champion.
Nashville SC captured the club’s first trophy, and the first title by a professional team in the state, with a 2–1 win in the U.S. Open Cup Final over Austin FC on Wednesday night at Q2 Stadium, riding goals from superstars Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge.
Mukhtar, a key piece of Nashville’s attack since their inaugural MLS campaign in 2020, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a volley after a chested assist from Jacob Shaffelburg, and Surridge slotted home the 2–1 goal from the penalty spot after a controversial call.
Myrto Uzuni tied the match up for Austin in first-half stoppage time, but it wasn’t enough for the home side to turn the game around.
At the end of the night, it was the hundreds of fans at Nashville SC’s GEODIS Park viewing party that went home happy, celebrating a triumph none of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies or the NHL’s Nashville Predators had yet accomplished.
“It’s amazing. I’m so proud of the group,” Mukhtar said. “Coming in, there were a lot of new faces, a new coach with a lot of new ideas of how we wanted to play. I think in general how the group this year evolved is a credit to the group and makes me so proud.
“It’s hard playing a certain way for a very long time and then changing it, the mentality of the group… we want to be a top team and we won our first trophy but want to win more trophies, we have to make the next step. I think this is the right step, but we have a lot of work to do.”
In the moments after the final whistle blew, Mukhtar and U.S. men’s national team center back Walker Zimmerman grabbed the trophy and brought it back to their squad to hoist. Each continues to be a constant and culture-defining presence with the group, and key in the team’s elevated play under first-year head coach B.J. Callaghan.
Meanwhile, for Callaghan, it marked the latest addition to his growing coaching resume, having previously led the USMNT to the 2023 Concacaf Nations League title while acting as interim head coach.
“I think throughout the season we’ve had those moments and we’ve been able to step up, and you saw that again tonight,” he said post-match. “Obviously, it's not easy at the end of the final to finish it out, and I thought we did a really good job of that. Just proud of the group and proud of the team performance.”
With the win, Nashville clinched a spot in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup and also gained momentum for their MLS campaign, which had slowed down to just two wins in their last nine games, following a midsummer run that saw them win six of seven games.
