Skip to content
TourneyPage
Create tournamentCreate

Free printable bracket · Single elimination

16 team single elimination bracket

A 16-team single elimination bracket has 15 games, and no byes: every team plays in round one.

Sixteen teams fills the frame: no byes, 15 games, four rounds. Round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, final. It fits one day on four fields.

Make this bracket liveDownload the PDF

Free to build and preview. $29 one-time to publish. The PDF is free, no sign-up.

  • 15games
  • 0first-round byes
  • 4rounds
  • 1–4games per team

The bracket

16 teams, 15 games, every one numbered.

Bracket

Show the bracket as

Round of 16Games 1–8

  1. 11Team 1v.16Team 16
  2. 28Team 8v.9Team 9
  3. 34Team 4v.13Team 13
  4. 45Team 5v.12Team 12
  5. 52Team 2v.15Team 15
  6. 67Team 7v.10Team 10
  7. 73Team 3v.14Team 14
  8. 86Team 6v.11Team 11

QuarterfinalsGames 9–12

  1. 9Winner of Game 1v.Winner of Game 2
  2. 10Winner of Game 3v.Winner of Game 4
  3. 11Winner of Game 5v.Winner of Game 6
  4. 12Winner of Game 7v.Winner of Game 8

SemifinalsGames 13–14

  1. 13Winner of Game 9v.Winner of Game 10
  2. 14Winner of Game 11v.Winner of Game 12

FinalGame 15

  1. 15Winner of Game 13v.Winner of Game 14

Byes

No byes: every team plays in round one.

16 is a power of two, so the frame is full: round one has 8 games and nobody sits out. Seeding still matters: seed 1 plays seed 16 first, seed 2 plays seed 15, and so on, so the top seeds can only meet late.

Game order

All 15 games in play order.

  1. Game 1Round of 16Team 1 vs Team 16Winner plays the Game 2 winner in Game 9.
  2. Game 2Round of 16Team 8 vs Team 9Winner plays the Game 1 winner in Game 9.
  3. Game 3Round of 16Team 4 vs Team 13Winner plays the Game 4 winner in Game 10.
  4. Game 4Round of 16Team 5 vs Team 12Winner plays the Game 3 winner in Game 10.
  5. Game 5Round of 16Team 2 vs Team 15Winner plays the Game 6 winner in Game 11.
  6. Game 6Round of 16Team 7 vs Team 10Winner plays the Game 5 winner in Game 11.
  7. Game 7Round of 16Team 3 vs Team 14Winner plays the Game 8 winner in Game 12.
  8. Game 8Round of 16Team 6 vs Team 11Winner plays the Game 7 winner in Game 12.
  9. Game 9QuarterfinalsWinner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2Winner plays the Game 10 winner in Game 13.
  10. Game 10QuarterfinalsWinner of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 4Winner plays the Game 9 winner in Game 13.
  11. Game 11QuarterfinalsWinner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 6Winner plays the Game 12 winner in Game 14.
  12. Game 12QuarterfinalsWinner of Game 7 vs Winner of Game 8Winner plays the Game 11 winner in Game 14.
  13. Game 13SemifinalsWinner of Game 9 vs Winner of Game 10Winner plays the Game 14 winner for the title in Game 15.
  14. Game 14SemifinalsWinner of Game 11 vs Winner of Game 12Winner plays the Game 13 winner for the title in Game 15.
  15. Game 15FinalWinner of Game 13 vs Winner of Game 14

How long it takes

Roughly how long a 16-team single elimination day runs.

About 6 hours 40 minutes. 15 games in 8 rounds of play across 2 fields.

Arithmetic, not a schedule: it ignores breaks and assumes every field stays busy. In TourneyPage you type the actual times and courts, and they show on the page.

Printable

Print it, or make it live.

16 team single elimination bracket drawn as lines, with every game numbered

The PDF is US Letter, landscape, with seed numbers on blank lines so you can write the teams in. Free, no sign-up, nothing on it but the bracket and this page's address.

Or skip the clipboard. The live version has the same bracket with the team names in, scores entered from a phone, standings that update, and the next games on top. Free to build and preview; $29 one-time to publish, for up to 32 teams per division.

Download the PDFMake this bracket live

Questions

Questions about a 16-team single elimination bracket.

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

15: every game eliminates one team, and 16 teams need 15 eliminations to leave a champion. A third-place game, if you add one, makes it 16.

Does a 16 team bracket have byes?

No. 16 is a power of two, so round one has 8 games and every team plays in it.

How many games does each team play?

At least 1: one loss and you're out. The champion plays 4.

How long does a 16 team single elimination tournament take?

About 6 hours 40 minutes with 15 games at 50 minutes each on 2 fields. Change the game length and the number of fields above to match your event. TourneyPage doesn't schedule the games for you; you type the times and courts you decide on, and they show on the page.

Should I add a third-place game?

If you want a full podium, or the two semifinal losers traveled a long way to play once. It adds one game between the semifinal losers, usually played right before the final, making 16 in all. TourneyPage has it as a switch, and the bracket shows it as its own game.

Single or double elimination for 16 teams?

Single elimination is 15 games; double elimination for 16 teams is 30, plus a reset final if it's needed. Go single when the day is short or the fields are few, and double when every team should be sure of two games. Pool play into a playoff is the third option: more games per team in a set number of rounds.

Can I print this bracket or run it live?

Both. The PDF is free, with no sign-up. "Make this bracket live" opens the TourneyPage builder with single elimination already chosen for your 16 teams; you add their names, preview the page free, and pay $29 once to publish a link everyone can open on their phone.

Other sizes

Single elimination brackets for 4 to 32 teams.

← 15-team single elimination17-team single elimination →

How single elimination works · Games, rounds, and byes for every format and size

Make your tournament feel official.

Free to build. $29 one-time to publish. One link your players, parents, and fans will actually open.

Make this bracket liveSee a live page