Choosing a Tournament Format

Pitch Planner supports three tournament formats. Here’s how to choose the right one.

Round Robin

Every team plays every other team.

Best for: leagues, regular seasons, small groups where you want every team to get plenty of games.

Teams	Total matches
4	6
6	15
8	28
10	45

Pros: Every team plays the same number of games. Standings reflect consistent performance across the whole field.

Cons: Generates a lot of matches for larger groups. A 16-team round-robin produces 120 matches.

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Knockout

Single-elimination bracket — lose and you’re out.

Best for: cups, one-day tournaments, situations where you want a clear champion quickly.

Pitch Planner handles byes automatically when the team count isn’t a power of two (e.g. 6 teams → 2 teams get first-round byes). You can optionally add a third-place match.

Pros: Dramatic, simple to follow, fewer total matches.

Cons: Teams can be eliminated after just one bad game.

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Group + Knockout

Group stage feeding into an elimination round.

Best for: larger tournaments (8–16 teams) where you want a mix of guaranteed games and a knockout climax.

How it works:

1. Teams are divided into groups (e.g. 8 teams → 2 groups of 4)
2. Each group plays a mini round-robin
3. The top finishers from each group advance to the knockout bracket
4. Knockout rounds play out until a winner is crowned

Pros: Every team gets multiple guaranteed games. The knockout stage adds drama.

Cons: More complex to manage, takes longer to run.

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Quick reference

Format	Best for	Guaranteed games	Complexity
Round Robin	Leagues	Yes	Low
Knockout	Cups	No	Low
Group + Knockout	Big tournaments	Yes (group stage)	Medium