Knockout bracket
Bracket of 12
Who plays whom in every round and who goes through without playing. Print it as it is.
- 16bracket size
- 4rounds
- 11matches
- 4byes
- There are always one fewer matches than entries: each match eliminates exactly one.
The bracket
Every tie carries its number, and later rounds say which tie each slot comes from.
Round of 16
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Round of 16
4 matchesQuarterfinals
4 matchesSemifinals
2 matchesFinal
1 matchHow a bracket is laid out
The best cannot meet too early
1 and 2 can only meet in the final. That layout is calculated, not eyeballed.
Read the explanation
A bracket is not filled in from top to bottom: it is built so that the best cannot meet too early. 1 and 2 can only meet in the final; 1 and 4 not before the semifinals, and so on down. That layout is calculated, not eyeballed.
And the byes fall out of it on their own: the spare slots take the last seeding positions, and the last positions are drawn against precisely the first ones. With 12 in a bracket of 16, the gaps land where they should without anyone placing them by hand.
A bracket's figures do not depend on the draw. A bracket of 12 runs over 4 rounds, because it has to reach 16 (the next power of two) and that leaves 4 byes (16 − 12). And it takes 11 matches in total, not one more: every match knocks out exactly one entrant, and 11 have to go for a single champion to be left. That holds for any number, byes or no byes.
Who goes through without playing
4 go straight through to the second round
With no seeding, the gaps fall at random. If you do have a ranking, check below that the list is in order and the byes will go to the top names.
Settings
Seeding, third place, draw and names
The same link always gives the same bracket, so it can be printed and handed round without anyone getting something different. Changing the draw number gives another set of pairings.
Other sizes
More of you, or fewer?
Other formats: the americano, with pairs that change every round, and the round-robin league, where losing does not put you out.
Running it on Peldia, and the winner moves up on their own
The winner moves up to the right tie on their own, results go in from a phone and every entrant sees when they play without asking.
And it does not end with the final: every entrant keeps their record and their level, and the next tournament starts with all of it already there. If you run a club or an academy, you see who is improving, who has stalled and who has not turned up in weeks.
Creating your own needs an account, and those screens are in English too.