Tournament brackets, single elimination
A blank 7 team bracket on one page: seeds on the first lines, byes for the top seed, every game numbered, and the champion's line.
Tournament Bracket
7 teams · single elimination
Byes: seed 1
Write each winner on the next line
Round 1Games 1–3
SemifinalsGames 4–5
FinalGame 6
Tournament
Date
Place
| Game | Round | Teams | Time | Court | Winner | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Round 1 | Seed 4 v Seed 5 | – | |||
| 2 | Round 1 | Seed 2 v Seed 7 | – | |||
| 3 | Round 1 | Seed 3 v Seed 6 | – | |||
| 4 | Semifinals | Seed 1 v Winner of 1 | – | |||
| 5 | Semifinals | Winner of 2 v Winner of 3 | – | |||
| 6 | Final | Winner of 4 v Winner of 5 | – |
A 7 team single elimination bracket has 6 games over 3 rounds: 3 in round 1, 2 semifinals and the final. Lose once and you're out; the last team left is the champion.
7 teams don't fill a bracket of 8, so 1 team gets a bye: seed 1 skips the first round and starts in round 2. The first round is 3 games: 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5.
Every game has a number on the sheet, in an order it can be played, so a schedule can say “game 3 at 2:00 on court 1.” Write each winner on the line the game leads to.
One sheet from the first game to the champion.
6. Every game puts one team out, and every team but the champion goes out once.
The top seed. 7 teams fill a 8 line bracket only with 1 bye, and each goes to the best seed left, so no bye meets another and every first-round game is real.
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.
Not on the sheet, but it's easy to add: the two semifinal losers play once more. Write it in on the back, or play a double elimination bracket instead, where every team plays at least twice.
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.