A single elimination tournament, also known as a knockout tournament, is a tournament format in which a team or player is eliminated immediately after a loss.
If you win, you advance to the next round. If you lose, you are out of the tournament.
A major advantage of single elimination is that it can be used with almost any number of participants: 5, 12, 23 or 64, for example.
If the number of participants is not a power of 2, such as 8, 16 or 32, some teams may receive a bye in the first round or a preliminary round may be played to complete the bracket.
The tournament then continues as a knockout competition.
Round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals...
Familiar round names such as round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are used when the tournament reaches a number of participants that fits a power-of-two bracket, such as 16 or 32.
These names make the tournament structure easy to follow and are widely used in major sporting competitions.
For example:
- Round of 16: 16 teams
- Quarter-finals: 8 teams
- Semi-finals: 4 teams
- Final: 2 teams
For example, if you start with 18 teams, four teams first play a preliminary round to reduce the bracket to 16 teams.
The round of 16 can then begin.
With
mytournament.info
,
you can organise a single elimination tournament in just a few minutes.
In the category settings, select
Single elimination:
Summary
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Single elimination means: one loss = elimination.
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This format is
suitable for almost any number of participants.
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Every tournament with a round of 16 is a knockout tournament, but not every knockout tournament includes a round of 16.
View a single elimination bracket
Want to see what a single elimination bracket looks like for a specific number of teams?
Select the required number below.
A separate bracket is available for every number from 2 to 256 teams, including matches, rounds and any byes.