Printable Tournament Bracket
Which bracket size do I need?
Count the teams and round up: 4, 8, 16 or 32. A field of 12 takes the 16-team sheet with four first-round lines left empty, which gives four teams a bye — exactly how an uneven draw is seeded in practice. The 16- and 32-team brackets are drawn from both sides towards a final in the middle, the pool-sheet shape, so even the full 32 fits on one landscape page.
-
4 teams
two semi-finals and a final; the smallest draw
-
8 teams
quarter-finals to final, eight lines to fill in
-
16 teams
eight a side, converging on the final in the middle
-
32 teams
the full pool-sheet draw, sixteen a side, on one page
Can I put the team names on the bracket?
Yes. Type one team per line in the order of the draw and each lands on a numbered line in the first round; later rounds stay blank, because that is what the tournament fills in. Leave the box empty for a blank bracket to fill in by hand, which is the sheet most people pin to the wall of the hall. Blank 16 team bracket.
How do I fill it in, and where does the winner go?
Each line is one place in the draw. When a match has been played, write the winner on the line the two teams' lines join to in the next column, and carry on until one name reaches the final. The champion goes in the box marked Winner: on the 4- and 8-team sheets it is the box at the far right, after the final; on the 16- and 32-team sheets the two finalists meet in the middle column and the Winner box sits directly beneath them. Scores, if you keep them, go beside the losing team's line. Blank 4 team bracket to fill in by hand.
Single elimination only, or double too?
This is the single-elimination tree: lose once and you are out, which is what office pools, school sports days and club championships run on. A losers' bracket is a different drawing and is not on this sheet. If you need a round-robin or group stage first, draw the groups on a plain grid and bring the qualifiers here. 8 team single elimination bracket as PDF.
