16 Team Tournament Bracket

A printable bracket for sixteen teams: fifteen games, and every first-round pair of seeds adds up to 17.

16 Team Tournament Bracket

No teams yet. The bracket prints blank, to fill in by hand.

16 teams, single elimination: 15 games in 4 rounds. No byes.

Winner of Game 1Winner of Game 2
Winner of Game 3Winner of Game 4
Winner of Game 9Winner of Game 10
Winner of Game 5Winner of Game 6
Winner of Game 7Winner of Game 8
Winner of Game 11Winner of Game 12
Winner of Game 13Winner of Game 14
Champion

Tap a team to send it through; tap it again to take the result back. The bracket scrolls sideways.

More options

Next step No rankings? Draw the 16 seeds on a wheelPools first? Send the top eight into an 8 team bracket

Every game in each bracket size

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15-Team Bracket

15 teams, single elimination: 14 games in 4 rounds. Seed 1 has a bye.

Games of the 15-team bracket, in playing order
GameRoundTeamsWinner goes to
1Round 1Seed 8 vs Seed 9Game 8
2Round 1Seed 5 vs Seed 12Game 9
3Round 1Seed 4 vs Seed 13Game 9
4Round 1Seed 3 vs Seed 14Game 10
5Round 1Seed 6 vs Seed 11Game 10
6Round 1Seed 7 vs Seed 10Game 11
7Round 1Seed 2 vs Seed 15Game 11
8QuarterfinalSeed 1 vs Winner of Game 1Game 12
9QuarterfinalWinner of Game 2 vs Winner of Game 3Game 12
10QuarterfinalWinner of Game 4 vs Winner of Game 5Game 13
11QuarterfinalWinner of Game 6 vs Winner of Game 7Game 13
12SemifinalWinner of Game 8 vs Winner of Game 9Game 14
13SemifinalWinner of Game 10 vs Winner of Game 11Game 14
14FinalWinner of Game 12 vs Winner of Game 13Champion

16-Team Bracket

16 teams, single elimination: 15 games in 4 rounds. No byes.

Games of the 16-team bracket, in playing order
GameRoundTeamsWinner goes toNotes
1Round of 16Seed 1 vs Seed 16Game 9The widest gap in seeding on the sheet: top seed against bottom seed.
2Round of 16Seed 8 vs Seed 9Game 9The closest pairing on paper, and the reward is a quarterfinal against Seed 1 if the higher seed wins Game 1.
3Round of 16Seed 5 vs Seed 12Game 10Second quarter of the sheet. The winner goes to Game 10 to meet the winner of Game 4, which is Seed 4 if the higher seed wins.
4Round of 16Seed 4 vs Seed 13Game 10Seed 4 is the top seed of the second quarter, which keeps it away from Seed 1 until the semifinals.
5Round of 16Seed 3 vs Seed 14Game 11Seed 3 heads the third quarter, in the same half as Seed 2, so Seeds 1 and 3 can only meet in the final.
6Round of 16Seed 6 vs Seed 11Game 11The winner goes to Game 11, where Seed 3 is waiting if the higher seed wins Game 5.
7Round of 16Seed 7 vs Seed 10Game 12The second closest pairing of the round on paper. The winner goes to Game 12 and is lined up to face Seed 2.
8Round of 16Seed 2 vs Seed 15Game 12Seed 2 is in the last quarter of the sheet, the opposite half to Seed 1, so the two can only meet in the final.
9QuarterfinalWinner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2Game 13If seeds hold: Seed 1 v Seed 8, and in every quarterfinal the two projected seeds add up to 9.
10QuarterfinalWinner of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 4Game 13If seeds hold: Seed 5 v Seed 4, the tightest quarterfinal on paper.
11QuarterfinalWinner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 6Game 14If seeds hold: Seed 3 v Seed 6.
12QuarterfinalWinner of Game 7 vs Winner of Game 8Game 14If seeds hold: Seed 7 v Seed 2.
13SemifinalWinner of Game 9 vs Winner of Game 10Game 15If seeds hold: Seed 1 v Seed 4. The projected seeds in each semifinal add up to 5.
14SemifinalWinner of Game 11 vs Winner of Game 12Game 15If seeds hold: Seed 3 v Seed 2. Played last before the final when there is one court, so plan a break after it.
15FinalWinner of Game 13 vs Winner of Game 14ChampionThe final, the fourth game for both teams. If seeds hold: Seed 1 v Seed 2.

Each seed's path to the title 16

  • Seed 1: Game 1, Game 9, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 2: Game 8, Game 12, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 3: Game 5, Game 11, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 4: Game 4, Game 10, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 5: Game 3, Game 10, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 6: Game 6, Game 11, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 7: Game 7, Game 12, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 8: Game 2, Game 9, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 9: Game 2, Game 9, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 10: Game 7, Game 12, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 11: Game 6, Game 11, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 12: Game 3, Game 10, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 13: Game 4, Game 10, Game 13 and Game 15
  • Seed 14: Game 5, Game 11, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 15: Game 8, Game 12, Game 14 and Game 15
  • Seed 16: Game 1, Game 9, Game 13 and Game 15

How this list was compiled: Layout worked out for this site: sixteen lines in standard seeding order, where the two seeds in every first-round game add up to 17, with games numbered round by round from the top of the sheet. Two separate checks agree on the 15 games, on the fewest slots for one to eight courts, and on the 15 team figures quoted on this page (one bye, for Seed 1, and four wins for Seed 2). As a further check, every game listed here is compared with the bracket the tool draws. The seeding rule and the round names were checked on 2026-09-18 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-elimination_tournament, and the bye rule used for 15 teams against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bye_%28sports%29. Licence: own work

How it works

A 16 team tournament bracket fills every line, so there are no byes and every team needs four wins: 15 games in four rounds, single elimination. The 15 teams button turns it into a 15 team tournament bracket, where Seed 1 has the only bye.

Read the full guide

Every first-round pair adds up to 17

In a 16 seed tournament bracket each first-round game adds up to 17: 1 v 16, 8 v 9, 5 v 12 and 4 v 13 in the top half, then 3 v 14, 6 v 11, 7 v 10 and 2 v 15. Any other total means a team is on the wrong line. While higher seeds win, each quarterfinal adds up to 9 and each semifinal to 5.

Fifteen teams: one bye, and what it costs Seed 2

With 15, Seed 16 comes off the sheet and Seed 1 waits in the quarterfinals for the 8 v 9 winner. The other seven first-round games stay put, each numbered one lower. Seed 2 still opens against Seed 15, so it needs four wins for the title to Seed 1's three: break any tie for first in public. It is 14 games, and two courts still need eight slots.

  • Four pools of four? Keep pool order A, B, C, D in every tier: winners are Seeds 1 to 4, runners-up 5 to 8, and so on. Round one is all cross-pool; snake order makes 1 v 16 a rematch.
  • With no names it prints as a blank 16 team tournament bracket template on one landscape page.
  • Half the field plays once. To promise everyone three, play pools of four and send the top two into an 8 team bracket.

Questions and answers

How many courts does a 16 team bracket need?

One court needs 15 slots, two courts 8, three 6 and four 5. Courts five to seven save nothing; only eight, one per first-round game, get down to 4. Give every winner a slot off and four courts need 8.

Is a 16 person tournament bracket any different?

No. A 16 player tournament bracket for cornhole or table tennis is this sheet with one name per line: 15 matches, 8 slots on two boards. For wrestling it is the championship side only. With no rankings, press Random draw, and agree first that it stands.

What if 15 or 17 teams show up?

For 15, delete the missing team's line in Your teams and set Teams to 15. Already printed? Strike out Seed 16 and send Seed 1 straight to Game 9. Seventeen needs a 32-line sheet: Seeds 16 and 17 play off to meet Seed 1 while the other 15 wait in the round of 16.

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