Free printable schedule and bracket · Pool play
9 team pool play schedule and bracket
9 teams in pool play, also called round robin pools: a pool of 5 and a pool of 4 or three pools of 3, each pool a round robin, then the top 2 in each pool seeded into a single elimination playoff.
Nine teams: a pool of 5 and a pool of 4 (the usual split) or three pools of 3, then a 4-team or 6-team playoff. The uneven split is 16 pool games and 3 games each; three pools of 3 is 9 pool games and only 2 games each, with a 6-team playoff behind it.
Free to build and preview. $29 one-time to publish. The PDF is free, no sign-up.
- 2pools, the usual split
- 3–6games per team
- 19games: 16 in pools, 3 in the playoff
- 4teams in the playoff (top 2 per pool)
Your options
Every split TourneyPage allows for 9 teams.
| Split | Pool games | Games per team | Playoff | Total games | Rounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A pool of 5 and a pool of 4 (usual) | 16 | 3–6 | 4 teams, 3 games | 19 | 5 + 2 |
| Three pools of 3 | 9 | 2–5 | 6 teams, 5 games, 2 byes | 14 | 3 + 3 |
The pools
A pool of 5 and a pool of 4: 16 games, every pairing once.
Standings
Pool A
| Rank | Team | W | L | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x–Team 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | x–Team 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Team 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Team 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Team 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Pool B
| Rank | Team | W | L | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x–Team 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | x–Team 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Team 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Team 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
x–in a playoff spot. Top 2 in each pool advance to a single-elimination playoff. Ties go to head-to-head, then point differential, then points allowed.
Schedule
Round 1
- 1Pool ATeam 1v.Team 8
- 2Pool ATeam 4v.Team 5
- 3Pool BTeam 2v.Team 7
- 4Pool BTeam 3v.Team 6
Round 2
- 5Pool ATeam 9v.Team 5
- 6Pool ATeam 1v.Team 4
- 7Pool BTeam 6v.Team 2
- 8Pool BTeam 7v.Team 3
Round 3
- 9Pool ATeam 8v.Team 4
- 10Pool ATeam 9v.Team 1
- 11Pool BTeam 2v.Team 3
- 12Pool BTeam 6v.Team 7
Round 4
- 13Pool ATeam 5v.Team 1
- 14Pool ATeam 8v.Team 9
Round 5
- 15Pool ATeam 4v.Team 9
- 16Pool ATeam 5v.Team 8
The playoff
Top 2 from each pool: a 4-team bracket, 3 games.
Playoff
SemifinalsGames 1–2
- 111st in poolv.42nd in pool
- 221st in poolv.32nd in pool
FinalGame 3
- 3Winner of Game 1v.Winner of Game 2
Pool winners take the top seeds, runners-up the next ones, ordered against each other by the same tiebreakers the standings use. Byes go to the top seeds, and the engine keeps two teams from the same pool apart in the first round when the bracket allows it. In TourneyPage the playoff builds itself when the last pool game is final.
Standings
How each pool sorts itself.
Win percentage first. When two teams are level, TourneyPage goes down the list: head-to-head, then point differential, then points allowed. Sports scored in sets use set percentage in place of point differential. A tie in a game is allowed, the organizer can reorder the tiebreakers, and the standings say which one placed a team when it mattered. The line in each table marks the playoff cutoff.
How long it takes
Roughly how long 9-team pool play runs.
About 8 hours 20 minutes. 19 games in 10 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.
That's the usual split, a pool of 5 and a pool of 4: 5 pool rounds and a 2-round playoff have to follow one another, so the day can't be shorter than 7 waves of games.
Printable
Print it, or run it live.
The PDF is US Letter, landscape: a page per pool with a numbered key and blank lines for the team names, every game numbered, then the playoff bracket on its own page. Free, no sign-up, nothing on it but the schedule and this page's address.
Or run it live. The live version keeps every pool's standings, takes scores from a phone, builds the playoff from the final standings on its own, and shows the next games on top. Up to 32 teams per division. Free to build and preview; $29 one-time to publish.
Questions
Questions about 9-team pool play.
How does pool play work with 9 teams?
The 9 teams are split into pools (a pool of 5 and a pool of 4 or three pools of 3) in snake order, so the strongest seeds land in different pools. Each pool plays a round robin, standings sort each pool, and the top 2 in every pool are seeded into one single elimination playoff. In TourneyPage the playoff builds itself the moment the last pool game is final.
How many games are in 9 team pool play?
A pool of 5 and a pool of 4 is 16 pool games plus a 4-team playoff of 3, 19 in all; three pools of 3 is 9 pool games plus a 6-team playoff of 5, 14 in all. The usual split, a pool of 5 and a pool of 4, is what the pages above draw.
How many games does each team get?
A pool of 5 and a pool of 4: at least 3, at most 6; three pools of 3: at least 2, at most 5. The minimum is the pool games a team is sure of; the maximum is a team from the biggest pool that goes all the way through the playoff.
How are the playoff seeds decided?
Pool winners take the top seeds, ordered against each other by the same tiebreakers the standings use; runners-up fill the seeds after them, and so on. Byes go to the top seeds. The engine then arranges the first round so two teams from the same pool don't meet again straight away, when the bracket allows it. The playoff above shows 1st and 2nd in pool, because which pool a seed comes from depends on the results.
What if teams tie in a pool?
By win percentage first, then head-to-head, then point differential, then points allowed, for sports scored in points; sports scored in sets, like volleyball and pickleball, use set percentage in place of point differential. The organizer can reorder the list, ties in a game are allowed, and the standings say which tiebreaker placed a team when one was needed.
How long does 9 team pool play take?
About 8 hours 20 minutes with 19 games at 50 minutes each on 2 fields. That's the usual split; 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.
Can I print this or run it live?
Both. The PDF is free, with no sign-up: a page per pool and the playoff bracket. "Run pool play live" opens the TourneyPage builder with pool play already chosen and the usual split suggested; add the team names, and the standings, schedule, and playoff take care of themselves as scores come in. Free to build and preview, $29 once to publish.
Other sizes
Pool play for 6 to 16 teams.
How pool play works · Single-pool round robin schedules · Free printable brackets · Game counts for every format · Sports that usually run pools: Pickleball, Basketball, Volleyball, Flag football, Soccer, Softball, Baseball, Kickball, Table tennis (ping pong)
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Free to build. $29 one-time to publish. One link your players, parents, and fans will actually open.