5 Team Double Elimination Tournament Bracket
Five teams, two lives each: eight games, a ninth if the final is replayed, and every drop into the losers bracket marked.
5 Team Double Elimination Tournament Bracket: how it works
A 5 team double elimination tournament bracket takes 8 games, or 9 when the losers bracket team wins the first final. Seeds 1, 2 and 3 get byes and Seed 4 plays Seed 5 first. Type your five teams or players in seed order, best first, or print it blank.
Where each loser drops
Game 1 is Seed 4 against Seed 5. Game 2, Seed 2 against Seed 3, comes next so the Game 1 winner can rest before meeting Seed 1 in Game 3. The losers of Games 1 and 2 meet in Game 4, the first elimination game. The Game 3 loser drops later, into Game 6, and the Game 5 loser into Game 7. Put the Game 3 loser in Game 4 by mistake and it can meet the team it beat in Game 1.
The championship and the if game
The Game 5 winner arrives unbeaten, so one win in Game 8 ends it. The losers bracket team must win Game 8 and then Game 9, the if game or bracket reset. Agree before Game 1 whether to play it: a one-game final takes away the unbeaten team's second life. No placing games are needed: the Game 4 loser is fifth, the Game 6 loser fourth, the Game 7 loser third.
Tips
- Two courts pair Games 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, then Games 7 and 8 run alone: 5 slots, or 6 with the if game. A third court saves nothing.
- The losers bracket survivor plays Games 6, 7 and 8 back to back. Put a break before the championship.
- No rankings? Press Random draw with everyone watching. A sixth team? Change the Teams box: names stay, results clear, and the game notes here still describe five.
Questions and answers
How many games are in a 5 team double elimination bracket?
Eight, or nine if the final is replayed: four in the winners bracket, three in the losers bracket and the championship. Single elimination for five takes four games and a round robin ten, so this sits between them on court time.
Which teams get a bye with five teams?
Seeds 1, 2 and 3. Five teams go into an eight-slot winners bracket, and the three empty slots sit opposite the top three seeds. Seed 1 can take the title in three games. The Game 1 loser needs six, the last five all wins.
Can two teams meet twice in this bracket?
Yes. The earliest rematch is Game 6: if the Game 1 loser wins Game 4 and the Game 1 winner then loses to Seed 1, they play again. Game 4 can never be one. Game 7 can repeat Game 1, 2 or 3.
Every game in the 5-team double-elimination bracket
5 teams, double elimination: 8 or 9 games. Seeds 1 to 3 have a bye.
Games of the 5-team double-elimination bracket, in playing order
| Game | Round | Teams | Winner goes to | Loser goes to | Notes |
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| 1 | Winners round 1 | Seed 4 vs Seed 5 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Winners bracket, round 1. The only first-round game, because Seeds 1, 2 and 3 have byes. The winner meets Seed 1 in Game 3. The loser drops to Game 4 and waits there for the Game 2 loser. |
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| 2 | Winners semifinal | Seed 2 vs Seed 3 | Game 5 | Game 4 | Winners bracket semifinal. Played before Game 3 so that the Game 1 winner gets a break before facing Seed 1. The winner goes to Game 5, the winners bracket final. The loser drops to Game 4 to meet the Game 1 loser. |
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| 3 | Winners semifinal | Seed 1 vs Winner of Game 1 | Game 5 | Game 6 | Winners bracket semifinal and the top seed's first game. The winner joins the Game 2 winner in Game 5. The loser drops to Game 6, one step further along the losers bracket than the losers of Games 1 and 2. |
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| 4 | Losers round 1 | Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2 | Game 6 | Out (5th) | Losers bracket, round 1, and the first elimination game. Both teams have one loss and have never met. The loser is out and finishes fifth. The winner goes to Game 6, where the Game 3 loser drops in. |
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| 5 | Winners final | Winner of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 2 | Game 8 | Game 7 | Winners bracket final between the last two unbeaten teams. The winner goes to the championship, Game 8, with a loss to spare. The loser drops to Game 7, the losers bracket final. |
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| 6 | Losers round 2 | Winner of Game 4 vs Loser of Game 3 | Game 7 | Out (4th) | Losers bracket, round 2. This is the first place a rematch can happen: if the Game 1 loser wins Game 4 and the Game 1 winner loses Game 3, the two meet again here. The loser is out and finishes fourth. The winner goes to Game 7 against the Game 5 loser. |
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| 7 | Losers final | Winner of Game 6 vs Loser of Game 5 | Game 8 | Out (3rd) | Losers bracket final. The loser is out and finishes third. The winner has one loss and goes to the championship, Game 8, where it has to beat the unbeaten team twice. |
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| 8 | Championship | Winner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 7 | Champion, or Game 9 if the losers bracket team wins | Runner-up | Championship. If the unbeaten Game 5 winner wins, the tournament is over in 8 games. If the losers bracket team wins, both teams have one loss and Game 9 decides the title. |
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| 9 | If necessary | Winner of Game 8 vs Loser of Game 8 | Champion | Runner-up | The if game, also called the bracket reset. Played only when the losers bracket team wins Game 8. Same two teams, one loss each. The winner is champion and the loser finishes second. |
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How this list was compiled: Bracket layout worked out by Wheel of Teams. We start from the full 8-slot double elimination bracket with standard seeding (1 v 8, 4 v 5, 3 v 6, 2 v 7), leave slots 6, 7 and 8 empty, and remove every game that would have an empty slot in it, which gives Seeds 1, 2 and 3 a bye and sends each loser to the same place it would go in the full bracket. Every possible set of results was run through the layout by script to confirm that each team is out after exactly two losses, that the games always number 8 or 9, and to find where a rematch can happen. The game count (2n - 2, or 2n - 1 when the winner is not undefeated), the two-game final and the 'if game' or 'bracket reset' wording were checked on 2026-09-18 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-elimination_tournament. Licence: own work