Double elimination bracket generator

How double elimination works

A double elimination bracket has two halves. All teams start in the winners bracket, which looks like a normal single elimination bracket. A team that loses there does not leave. It drops into the losers bracket. A team that loses there is out, which means it has lost twice.

The winner of the winners bracket and the winner of the losers bracket meet in the grand final. The team from the winners bracket has lost nothing so far, the team from the losers bracket has lost once.

Here the bracket reset comes in. It is optional and appears in the tool as "Grand final rematch". If the winner of the losers bracket wins the first final, both teams play again, so the champion has beaten the other finalist twice or has lost only once. Leave the option off for a quicker finish.

How many games will you need?

Every team except the champion is eliminated with exactly two losses, and the champion has at most one. With n teams that adds up to 2n − 2 games, or 2n − 1 if the extra game of the reset is played.

Example with 8 teams:

• The winners bracket is a normal 8-team bracket: 4 + 2 + 1 = 7 games.
• All 7 losers of the winners bracket drop into the losers bracket, which plays 6 games (n − 2) until one team is left.
• The grand final adds 1 game.

Total: 7 + 6 + 1 = 14 games, which equals 2 × 8 − 2. With a reset, it is 15. For comparison, single elimination with 8 teams needs only 7 games, so double elimination takes about twice as many.

Odd team counts and byes

The generator works from 3 to 128 teams. Whenever the number of teams is not a power of two, not only when it is odd, the winners bracket is filled up with byes just like a single elimination bracket. For example, 11 teams are placed in a 16-slot bracket with 5 byes, and the highest seeds get them. The losers bracket then skips the games that would have involved a missing team, so nobody waits for an opponent who does not exist.

Double or single elimination?

Advantages of double elimination: one bad game does not end a tournament. The final result reflects more games, so the better team wins more often. Almost every team plays at least two games, which matters when people travel to take part.

Disadvantages: it takes about twice as many games, a longer day and more courts or tables. The losers bracket is harder to follow for spectators, and with the bracket reset on, the final can need a second game.

If time is short, use the single elimination bracket maker. If you want everyone to play the same number of games, the round robin generator is a better fit.

Running the event

Enter the result of each game by clicking the winner or typing a score. Winners and losers are moved to their next games automatically, and the winning path is highlighted as it goes through the bracket. When the final is decided, you get a trophy and confetti.

Use "Share live" to give players a link they can watch on their phones. Open the edit link at the scoring table, and everyone else sees every result a moment after you enter it. To print the bracket on a single sheet, see the printable brackets.