Knockout bracket

Bracket of 20

Who plays whom in every round and who goes through without playing. Print it as it is.

32bracket size
5rounds
19matches
12byes

Put the names in

How it works outrandom draw

Bracket size32

Go straight through to the second round12

Matches in total19

Rounds to the final5

Third-place playoffnot played

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 1

no opponent

Tie 1 · bye

Tie 2

no opponent

Tie 3 · bye

no opponent

Tie 4 · bye

no opponent

Tie 5 · bye

Tie 6

no opponent

Tie 7 · bye

no opponent

Tie 8 · bye

no opponent

Tie 9 · bye

Tie 10

no opponent

Tie 11 · bye

no opponent

Tie 12 · bye

no opponent

Tie 13 · bye

Tie 14

no opponent

Tie 15 · bye

no opponent

Tie 16 · bye

Round of 16

winner of tie 2

Tie 17

Tie 18

winner of tie 6

Tie 19

Tie 20

winner of tie 10

Tie 21

Tie 22

winner of tie 14

Tie 23

Tie 24

Quarterfinals

winner of tie 17

winner of tie 18

Tie 25

winner of tie 19

winner of tie 20

Tie 26

winner of tie 21

winner of tie 22

Tie 27

winner of tie 23

winner of tie 24

Tie 28

Semifinals

winner of tie 25

winner of tie 26

Tie 29

winner of tie 27

winner of tie 28

Tie 30

Final

winner of tie 29

winner of tie 30

Tie 31

Round 1

4 matches

Tie 118 goes through without playing

Tie 219v1

Tie 33 goes through without playing

Tie 417 goes through without playing

Tie 513 goes through without playing

Tie 65v10

Tie 712 goes through without playing

Tie 87 goes through without playing

Tie 99 goes through without playing

Tie 1015v2

Tie 114 goes through without playing

Tie 1211 goes through without playing

Tie 1320 goes through without playing

Tie 148v14

Tie 1516 goes through without playing

Tie 166 goes through without playing

Round of 16

8 matches

Tie 1718vwinner of tie 2

Tie 183v17

Tie 1913vwinner of tie 6

Tie 2012v7

Tie 219vwinner of tie 10

Tie 224v11

Tie 2320vwinner of tie 14

Tie 2416v6

Quarterfinals

4 matches

Tie 25winner of tie 17vwinner of tie 18

Tie 26winner of tie 19vwinner of tie 20

Tie 27winner of tie 21vwinner of tie 22

Tie 28winner of tie 23vwinner of tie 24

Semifinals

2 matches

Tie 29winner of tie 25vwinner of tie 26

Tie 30winner of tie 27vwinner of tie 28

Final

1 match

Tie 31winner of tie 29vwinner of tie 30

How a bracket is laid out

The best cannot meet too early

Bracket (the power of two that fits)32

Byes (32 − 20)12

Matches for one champion (20 − 1)19

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 20 in a bracket of 32, 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 20 runs over 5 rounds, because it has to reach 32 (the next power of two) and that leaves 12 byes (32 − 20). And it takes 19 matches in total, not one more: every match knocks out exactly one entrant, and 19 have to go for a single champion to be left. That holds for any number, byes or no byes.

Who goes through without playing

12 go straight through to the second round

Spare slots12

Who gets themby draw

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.

Create this tournament on Peldia See the example club first