32 Team Double Elimination Bracket

Thirty two teams in double elimination is a serious event: sixty two matches, five winners bracket rounds and eight losers bracket rounds. It is the largest field this format runs comfortably at without splitting into pools first.

At this size most organisers run pools or a group stage before the bracket, precisely because sixty two matches is more than one day on a handful of stations. If you are committed to a straight double elimination, budget at least eight stations and shorten the match format for the early rounds.

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How the draw is structured

Entrants

Matches played

Rounds

Byes

Round by round

Round	Matches	Entrants left after it
Winners Round 1	16	16
Winners Round of 16	8	8
Winners Quarter-Finals	4	4
Winners Semi-Finals	2	2
Winners Final	1	1
Losers Round 1	8	1
Losers Round 2	8	1
Losers Round 3	4	1
Losers Round 4	4	1
Losers Round 5	2	1
Losers Round 6	2	1
Losers Round 7	1	1
Losers Final	1	1
Grand Final	1	1

Opening round by seed

Seeds are paired so the strongest and weakest meet first, which keeps the top seeds in opposite halves of the draw. This is the order the board is drawn in, top to bottom.

1 v 32

16 v 17

8 v 25

9 v 24

4 v 29

13 v 20

5 v 28

12 v 21

2 v 31

15 v 18

7 v 26

10 v 23

3 v 30

14 v 19

6 v 27

11 v 22

How long it takes

Rounds run one after another, because a round cannot start until the one feeding it has finished. Matches inside a round can all run at once, so the number of courts you have decides the day more than the number of entrants does.

Courts	10 min matches	20 min matches	30 min matches
1	10h 20m	20h 40m	31h
2	5h 30m	11h	16h 30m
4	3h 20m	6h 40m	10h

Playing time only. Add changeovers, warm-ups and the gap between rounds.

Questions

How many matches are in a 32 team double elimination bracket?

Sixty two. Thirty one teams need eliminating at two losses each, and every match produces one loss.

Should a 32 team event use pools instead?

Often, yes. Splitting thirty two into pools and taking the top finishers into a smaller bracket cuts the match count and gives everyone several games early, which is why most large events run it that way.