Excel boasts powerful tools to organize events. You can design tournament brackets for sports like basketball, soccer, or tennis to keep track of teams, matchups, and results all in one place.
Tournament brackets are easy to prepare when there are 4 to 6 participants. However, as the number of teams or participants increases, things get complicated.
In this quick guide, we will discuss Best 8, 16, 32, and 64 Team FREE Excel Tournament Brackets Templates. It also includes instructions on using each bracket, so make sure to read the article till the end.
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Single Elimination
- 4 Team/Player Bracket
- 8 Team/Player Bracket
- 16 Team/Player Bracket
- 32 Team/Player Bracket
- 64 Team/Player Bracket
Double Elimination
Why are Tournament Bracket Templates created using Excel a must-try?
Excel is the best online spreadsheet application used to organize and analyze massive datasets. You can leverage plenty of built-in tools and an easy-to-use interface to manage tournament brackets.
- Collaboration – An Excel sheet can be shared with unlimited users. It offers real-time collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on the tournament brackets simultaneously. It is beneficial for teams working remotely for large events.
- Automation – Excel has hundreds of formulas that can help users calculate scores and determine winners. Additionally, there are built-in functions to highlight advancing teams. Various automation features in Excel help users reduce manual errors and save time.
- Accessibility – You can access Excel spreadsheets from any device, including mobile and desktop. Printing tournament brackets is also pretty straightforward.
- Customization – Excel is an easy-to-use spreadsheet application. One may hardly take a few minutes to learn to add and remove information in Excel. Adding logos and formatting the template is also a breeze.
Everything is easy, from advancing winners through the brackets to printing the template for offline records.
Types of Tournament Brackets
The flow of the tournament determines the bracket you need to use. We will discuss the most common types as follows:
- Single Elimination
- Double Elimination
- Multilevel
The purpose of each type is clear from the name itself, but let us take a deep dive into each one of them.
1. Single Elimination
8 Team Single Elimination Bracket
It is the simplest type of tournament where the players or teams are eliminated until the winner is left.
Single elimination is helpful when there are many teams or too many players in a team. Such brackets are pretty straightforward. You can easily add winning participants to the next rounds.
With this bracket, the tournament winner has to go through the fewest rounds. It saves a lot of time as well by eliminating half of the players right after the first round.
2. Double Elimination
6 Team Double Elimination Bracket
This type of tournament gives a second chance to the losers of the first round.
They are helpful when you don’t have any time and place limit. It includes more rounds per team compared to single elimination. The losers of the first round, who may have had bad luck or a poor match, will get several chances to prove their skills.
Simply put, it resolves the issues associated with the Single Elimination bracket by giving opportunity to the participants who were quickly eliminated in the first round.
Each team has to play at least two rounds before being eliminated.
3. Multilevel
6 Team Multilevel Elimination Bracket
Multilevel brackets are designed to ensure that each participant in the tournament gets the chance to play nearly the same amount of rounds.
Such brackets are also popular as multi-tier and hierarchical brackets.
Losers are either eliminated or moved down to the lower stage for the next round.
It resembles the Single Elimination but has a downward trend, as shown in the above image. The winner has to participate in the games until no opponent is left.
Top FREE Excel Tournament Brackets Templates of 2024
In this section, we will discuss a few free Single and Double Tournament Bracket templates.
Note that you can create a Multilevel bracket using Single Elimination brackets discussed in the following section.
All of the templates are free to download and can be customized as per your preference.
Best Single Elimination Tournament Brackets
First, we will start with Single Elimination brackets. They are the most used brackets for organizing competitions or tournaments.
Make sure to add team or player names in the Blue and Orange boxes of the template throughout the tournament.
#1 – 4 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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This is the most basic of all the brackets and is highly effective for organizing small competitions. You can either edit it in Excel or print and use it offline.
There are two rounds of games in this tournament.
- Playoff
- Semi-Finals
The template is pretty straightforward. Make sure to include your tournament name in the header of the template.
#2 – 8 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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This template is almost identical to the previous one but differs in its capacity.
It is designed for 8 players or teams, and this bracket layout visually represents the progression from the quarter-finals to the final match.
The tournament is divided into the following rounds,
- Playoff
- Quarter-Finals
- Semi-finals
- Championship
All the losing teams will be eliminated quickly after each round.
As this is a Single Elimination bracket, half (50%) of the teams are eliminated in the first round. Only 4 teams will be in the second round, as shown in the above image.
It is a printable template. So, what are you waiting for?
#3 – 16 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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A 16-Team/Player tournament Bracket template in Excel is ideal for organizing medium-sized competitions.
We know that managing 16 teams or players is a challenging task. But do not worry, because our 16 Team Tournament Bracket has got your back.
It helps you note down all the team names in a single spreadsheet. Further, as the tournament rounds are completed, you can move the winners to the next game quickly.
The template is divided into 5 rounds:
- First Round
- Second Round
- Quarter Finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
The winner has to secure all the above rounds to be victorious.
#4 – 32 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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This template is similar to the 16-Team/Player Tournament Bracket template. However, as you can see in the above image, the team size has been doubled.
It is a massive template with lots of games.
The 32 Team/Player Tournament Bracket is categorized into six rounds as follows:
- First Round
- Second Round
- Third Round
- Quarter Finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
Because of too many teams, the winner has to participate in 5 big rounds to secure the trophy.
Note that the template will be used in landscape mode on desktops and tablets. Mobile users may find difficulties using this template due to the massive number of teams and the size of the bracket.
#5 – 64 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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This is our last template in the Single Elimination category. It is huge! Maybe humongous!
The design is similar to the 32 Team Tournament Bracket, and you should view it in landscape mode on a desktop or tablet for a better experience.
The template is designed to host a tournament with 64 teams or players. It is divided into the following rounds,
- First Round
- Second Round
- Third Round
- Fourth Round
- Quarter Finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
Note that the winning team has to dominate their rivals through all of these six rounds to secure victory.
Best Double Elimination Tournament Brackets
In contrast to the Single Elimination brackets, managing the Double Elimination brackets requires extra effort.
But don’t worry!
The templates below are designed to simplify your experience, providing clear instructions for entering team names in each round.
#1 – 4 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
Click Here To Use This Template!
This is the straightforward Double Elimination bracket template in Excel.
There are total 4 rounds:
- Playoff
- Quarter-Finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
Teams eliminated in the first and second rounds will have another chance to compete and prove their skills. The teams that lose in the first and second rounds will face each other.
If a team reaches the Championship round undefeated but loses for the first time, a deciding match will be scheduled, giving them one last chance to claim victory.
Note that the Champions must secure their title within 3-4 rounds before reaching victory.
#2 – 8 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
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This template may feel complex to you. But don’t bother!
It is pretty straightforward. A Double-elimination bracket is divided into two sections:
- Winner’s Bracket
- Loser’s Bracket
There are a total of four rounds within 8 Team/Player Elimination brackets,
- Playoff
- Quarter Final
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
Those who get defeated in round 1 (Playoff) will be moved to the second round of the bracket called Loser’s Bracket. They will then compete against each other and get a chance to move to the next round.
In simple words, each team will get a second chance to move to the next round. The tournament champions have to play 4-6 matches to win the tournament.
Make sure to read the instructions in gray at the top of each box of the Loser’s Bracket section.
#3 – 16 Team/Player Tournament Bracket
Click Here To Use This Template!
This is a huge template, very much similar to the previous one.
It is perfect when you have a lot of time and places. There are a total of seven rounds in this bracket:
- First Round
- Second Round
- Third Round
- Fourth Round
- Quarter Finals
- Semi-Finals
- Championship
Considering the first (12 matches) and second (8 matches) rounds, the template is really massive. You need to carefully move the losers of the Winner’s Section of the bracket to the Loser’s Section.
Make sure to read and understand the instructions in gray at the top of each box in the Loser’s Section.
Each team gets a repeated chance to prove their game after their first loss.
Also, note that this is a huge template, and you need to scroll down several times to manage it within Excel or any other program.
FAQs
Q. Why use a 64-team bracket for a 68-team tournament?
A 64-team bracket is used for 68-team tournaments because the starting four teams compete in the “First Four” play-in games. These are preliminary matches played before the main 64-team bracket tournament.
Here is how it works:
- First Four Games: The 68-team tournament format includes four play-in games involving eight teams. These games bring out the final four spots in the main 64-team bracket.
- Transition to a 64-team Bracket: After the First four games, the winner joins the 60 teams placed in the bracket to form a standard 64-team bracket. This transition is done in a way that balances the bracket and maintains the structure of the tournament.
- Main Tournament: After this, the tournament is continued with the traditional format, which is easier to manage.
Using a 64-team bracket for a 68-team tournament helps maintain the flow of the competition while still accommodating the additional teams through the play-in games.
Q. What is the best format for a tournament?
The best tournament format depends upon the type of competition, the number of players, and the objectives of the tournament.
Mostly, the Double Elimination is considered the best as it offers a good balance between giving attendees a good experience and not being difficult for organizers to run.
To Summarize: Tournament Bracket Template Excel
That’s it! This was all about Tournament Bracket templates. We have discussed different types of tournament brackets in detail.
But, if you are stuck somewhere or having any particular issue, then feel free to comment below.
If you are interested in more tips and tricks for using Excel like a pro, then please explore our blog section.