Knockout bracket
Bracket of 4
Who plays whom in every round and who goes through without playing. Print it as it is.
- 4bracket size
- 2rounds
- 3matches
- 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.
Semifinals
Final
Semifinals
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 4 in a bracket of 4, 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 4 runs over 2 rounds with no byes at all: 4 is a power of two, so the bracket comes out full and everyone plays from the first round. And it takes 3 matches in total, not one more: every match knocks out exactly one entrant, and 3 have to go for a single champion to be left. That holds for any number, byes or no byes.
Who goes through without playing
Nobody skips the first round
4 is a power of two: the bracket comes out full and everyone plays from the start.
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.