Tournament brackets, double elimination

16 team double elimination bracket printable, every game numbered

Winners' bracket on top, losers' bracket below, every game numbered and every drop marked, through to the grand final, and game 31 if it's needed.

16 teams30 or 31 gamesOut after two lossesNo byes

Double Elimination

16 teams · 30 or 31 games

Out after two losses

Game 31 only if game 30's winner had lost before

Winners' bracket

Round 1Games 1–8

Round 2Games 13–16

Round 3Games 23–24

Winners' finalGame 28

Grand finalGame 30

If necessaryGame 31

Losers' bracket

Round 1Games 9–12

Round 2Games 17–20

Round 3Games 21–22

Round 4Games 25–26

Round 5Game 27

Losers' finalGame 29

Only if the game 30 winner came from the losers' bracket

Loser of game 1

Loser of game 2

Loser of game 3

Loser of game 4

Loser of game 5

Loser of game 6

Loser of game 7

Loser of game 8

Loser of game 16

Loser of game 15

Loser of game 14

Loser of game 13

Loser of game 23

Loser of game 24

Loser of game 28

Loser of game 30

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 13 14 15 16 23 24 28 9 10 11 12 17 18 19 20 21 22 25 26 27 29 30 31

Champion

Tournament

Date

Place

16 team double elimination bracket, blank, every game numbered, on one printable page — The printed page, as the PDF prints it. Save to Pinterest

How a 16 team double elimination bracket works

A 16 team double elimination bracket takes 30 games, or 31 if the final goes to a second game. A team is out after its second loss, so every team plays at least twice.

The winners' bracket is 15 games over 4 rounds, run like a single elimination bracket. The first round pairs the seeds that add up to 17: 1 v 16, 2 v 15, 3 v 14, 4 v 13, 5 v 12, 6 v 11, 7 v 10 and 8 v 9. The top two seeds can meet only in the final.

Lose in the winners' bracket and you drop to the losers' bracket, onto the line that names your game: “Loser of game 1.” Its 14 games run over 6 rounds. From its second round, each round's winners meet the teams just dropped from the winners' bracket, set in reverse order every other round so two teams that just played don't meet again at once.

The winners' bracket champion, still unbeaten, meets the losers' bracket champion in the grand final, game 30. If the winners' champion wins, the tournament is over. If not, both teams have lost once, so they play again: game 31, the “if necessary” game.

Running the tournament

One sheet from the first game to the champion.

Seed the teamsBest first: seed 1 on the top line. Type them beside the sheet to print them, or shuffle the list for a random draw.
Print and post itOne copy on the wall for everyone, or one each for a bracket pool. The PDF is always blank.
Play the games in orderThe numbers are an order that works: each game's teams are known before it starts. Two courts can run a winners' and a losers' game at once.
Write in each winnerOn the line the game leads to, and each loser on the line in the losers' bracket that names their game.

Good to know

How many games are in a 16 team double elimination bracket?

30, or 31 with the if-necessary game. Every team but the champion loses twice, and the champion loses once at most.

Who gets a bye?

No one: 16 teams fill the bracket exactly. With 15, seed 1 would get a bye, and with fewer the next seeds too: the other sizes are below.

How do you seed a bracket?

Best team first, by last season, a ranking or pool play: seed 1 on the top line, then down the list. Seed 1 and seed 2 are placed so they can meet only in the final. No ranking? Shuffle the list for a random draw.

What does “if necessary” mean?

The winners' bracket champion reaches the grand final unbeaten. If they lose it, it's their first loss, so they get a second game against the same team: game 31. If they win the grand final, game 31 isn't played.

Can I fill it in on screen?

Type the teams beside the sheet and they print on it, shrunk to fit their lines; the tournament's name goes on the sheet too. They stay on this device for next time. “Print blank” prints it without them, and the PDF is always blank.