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28-team double elimination bracket generator

28 teams in a double elimination bracket: 54 games, 4 byes for the top 4 seeds; a first-round loser drops to the losers bracket and can still win the grand final. Rename the seeds below, print the sheet or run it live.

Teams: 28
Games: 54
Byes: 4
Rounds played (W + L + final): 5 + 8 + 1
Bracket size: 32 slots
Champion plays: 6 games
Fields for the fastest day: 12 (10 slots)
Time slots on 1 / 2 / 4 fields: 54 / 28 / 16

easychamp.com/tools/bracket-generator/28-team-double-elimination

The draw

28-team double elimination: the seeded first round

Winners round 1	Home seed	Away seed
M1	Seed 1	Bye (seed advances)
M2	Seed 16	Seed 17
M3	Seed 8	Seed 25
M4	Seed 9	Seed 24
M5	Seed 4	Bye (seed advances)
M6	Seed 13	Seed 20
M7	Seed 5	Seed 28
M8	Seed 12	Seed 21
M9	Seed 2	Bye (seed advances)
M10	Seed 15	Seed 18
M11	Seed 7	Seed 26
M12	Seed 10	Seed 23
M13	Seed 3	Bye (seed advances)
M14	Seed 14	Seed 19
M15	Seed 6	Seed 27
M16	Seed 11	Seed 22

Then winners rounds 2 to 5, the losers bracket (8 rounds) and the grand final: 54 games in all.

If the seeds hold

Who meets whom in a 28-team bracket, round by round

With 28 teams, seeds 1 to 4 skip the round of 32, so 12 of its 16 ties are played. The 1 seed needs 4 wins to win the winners bracket, the 28 seed 5. In double elimination a loss in that bracket drops a team into the losers bracket (8 rounds with games) instead of ending its event, and the winners-bracket champion still has the grand final to play.

Winners bracket, round of 32: 16 v 17 · 8 v 25 · 9 v 24 · 13 v 20 · 5 v 28 · 12 v 21 · 15 v 18 · 7 v 26 · 10 v 23 · 14 v 19 · 6 v 27 · 11 v 22 (byes: 1, 4, 2, 3)
Winners bracket, round of 16: 1 v 16 · 8 v 9 · 4 v 13 · 5 v 12 · 2 v 15 · 7 v 10 · 3 v 14 · 6 v 11
Winners bracket, quarter-finals: 1 v 8 · 4 v 5 · 2 v 7 · 3 v 6
Winners bracket, semi-finals: 1 v 4 · 2 v 3
Winners bracket, final: 1 v 2

Projected opponent of each seed in the winners bracket, round by round, if the higher seed wins every tie.
Seed	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarter-finals	Semi-finals	Final	Projected exit
1	bye	16	8	4	2	Winners bracket champion
2	bye	15	7	3	1	Final
3	bye	14	6	2		Semi-finals
4	bye	13	5	1		Semi-finals
5	28	12	4			Quarter-finals
6	27	11	3			Quarter-finals
7	26	10	2			Quarter-finals
8	25	9	1			Quarter-finals
9	24	8				Round of 16
10	23	7				Round of 16
11	22	6				Round of 16
12	21	5				Round of 16
13	20	4				Round of 16
14	19	3				Round of 16
15	18	2				Round of 16
16	17	1				Round of 16
17	16					Round of 32
18	15					Round of 32
19	14					Round of 32
20	13					Round of 32
21	12					Round of 32
22	11					Round of 32
23	10					Round of 32
24	9					Round of 32
25	8					Round of 32
26	7					Round of 32
27	6					Round of 32
28	5					Round of 32

Fields and time

How many fields a 28-team double elimination bracket needs, and how long it takes

54 games. A game can start once the games that decide its two teams are finished, so the shortest day is 10 time slots and 12 fields are the fewest that reach it; more fields do not make it shorter. One field plays every game back to back: 54 slots. A bracket reset in the grand final adds one slot.

Time for the whole event by number of fields and game length (with 10 minutes between games).
Fields	Time slots	30-min games	45-min games	60-min games	90-min games
1	54	35 h 50 min	49 h 20 min	62 h 50 min	89 h 50 min
2	28	18 h 30 min	25 h 30 min	32 h 30 min	46 h 30 min
3	20	13 h 10 min	18 h 10 min	23 h 10 min	33 h 10 min
4	16	10 h 30 min	14 h 30 min	18 h 30 min	26 h 30 min
12 (fastest)	10	6 h 30 min	9 h	11 h 30 min	16 h 30 min

One time slot is one game on one field. Durations are slots × game length plus 10 minutes between slots. Teams can be asked to play in consecutive slots, so add rest time if your sport needs it.

Make it yours

Rename the teams, then print, share or save it live

Double elimination · 28 entrants · 54 ties · seeded

Pick a team to advance it; pick the winner again to undo. Your picks travel with the share link.

Winners bracket

Winners round 1· 16

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Winners round 2· 8

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Winners round 3· 4

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Winners round 4· 2

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Winners final· 1

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Losers bracket

Losers round 1· 8

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Walkover

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Losers round 2· 8

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Losers round 3· 4

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Losers round 4· 4

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Losers round 5· 2

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Losers round 6· 2

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Losers round 7· 1

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Losers final· 1

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Grand final

Grand final· 1

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Save & run this live · free

Free EasyChamp account. Enter scores once; teams follow every result on a public page.

How it works

Seeding, byes and rounds for 28 teams

Double elimination is fairer to a team that has one bad day: a first-round loser drops to the losers bracket and can still win the whole thing, but it has to play more games to get there. Losers-bracket rounds alternate between "losers play each other" and "losers-bracket winners meet the next team dropping from the winners bracket", and the drop order is reversed each time so early rematches are rare.

Plan for time. 54 games is 27 more than the single-elimination version of the same field, and the losers bracket finishes 8 played rounds deep. On a one-day event that means either two courts or a shorter game length; the generator prints the round labels so the schedule can be built next to it.

At 28 teams a straight knockout is quick to draw but hard to justify: half the field goes home after one game. The usual answer is a group stage feeding a 16-team bracket, so every team gets three or four games and the knockout stays short.

Questions

28-team double elimination bracket generator: asked and answered

How many games are in a 28-team double elimination bracket?

54. In double elimination every eliminated team has lost twice, so 27 teams times two losses is 54 games whoever wins the grand final. A bracket reset (the losers-bracket champion beating the winners-bracket champion once, forcing a decider) would add one.

How many byes does a 28-team bracket have?

4. The next power of two above 28 is 32, so the draw has 32 slots and 4 of them are empty. Those free passes go to the top 4 seeds, who start in round two.

How many rounds is a 28-team double elimination bracket?

14 in all: 5 in the winners bracket, 8 in the losers bracket and one grand final. A team that loses its first game plays up to 9 more to win it.

How many fields or courts do I need for a 28-team double elimination bracket?

One is enough: it plays the 54 games back to back in 54 time slots. 12 fields give the shortest possible day, 10 slots; more fields do not make it shorter, because a game cannot start until the games that decide its two teams have finished. Two fields take 28 slots.

How long does a 28-team double elimination bracket take?

With 60-minute games and 10 minutes between them: 62 h 50 min on one field, 32 h 30 min on two and 18 h 30 min on four. In slots, for any game length: one field 54 slots, two 28, four 16. A bracket reset in the grand final adds one more slot. Teams can be asked to play in consecutive slots, so build in rest if your sport needs it.

How does seeding work in this 28-team bracket?

By list order: the first name is seed 1, the last is seed 28. The draw folds the seeds so 1 plays 28 first and 1 and 2 can only meet in the final. Use the shuffle button for a random draw, or reorder the list to seed by your group stage.

Can I run this 28-team bracket as a live competition?

Yes. Save the bracket to EasyChamp and it becomes a competition with a public page, click-through results and a printable sheet; a group stage can feed it. Free goes live with up to 8 teams per competition, the Club plan lifts that.

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Round robin generator →Every team plays every other team exactly once (or home and away), byes shown for odd numbers, home/away balanced. With a fixture list per team.League schedule generator →Turn a round robin into dated fixtures: pick match days, kick-off slots and how many pitches you have, and download the season as CSV.Session planner →Tell it your headcount, minutes and goal and get a timed session sheet: blocks with a clock, groupings that fit the squad, an animated board per drill and a swap for every item.Warm-up generator →A timed warm-up for your headcount and minutes, training or pre-match, with every movement animated and a one-page sheet to print.

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28-team double elimination bracket generator

28-team double elimination: the seeded first round

Who meets whom in a 28-team bracket, round by round

How many fields a 28-team double elimination bracket needs, and how long it takes

Rename the teams, then print, share or save it live

Seeding, byes and rounds for 28 teams

28-team double elimination bracket generator: asked and answered

28 teams, other ways to run it

The rest of the toolbox

Run it live on EasyChamp: fixtures, scores and standings update themselves

28-team double elimination bracket generator

28-team double elimination: the seeded first round

Who meets whom in a 28-team bracket, round by round

How many fields a 28-team double elimination bracket needs, and how long it takes

Rename the teams, then print, share or save it live

Generated tournament bracket

Seeding, byes and rounds for 28 teams

28-team double elimination bracket generator: asked and answered

28 teams, other ways to run it

The rest of the toolbox

Run it live on EasyChamp: fixtures, scores and standings update themselves