Create Your First Tournament

Setting up a tournament takes about two minutes. Here’s how.

Step 1 — Start a new tournament

Go to the dashboard and click New Tournament. If you don’t have an account yet, you can still create one — you’ll be prompted to save it later.

Step 2 — Name it and choose a format

Give your tournament a name (e.g. “Spring League 2026”) and choose one of the three formats:

• Round Robin — every team plays every other team. Best for leagues.
• Knockout — single-elimination bracket. Best for cups.
• Group + Knockout — teams play in groups, then top finishers advance to a knockout bracket.

Not sure which to pick? See Choosing a format.

Step 3 — Add your teams

Enter the name of each team. You can add up to 16 teams. Don’t worry about the order — fixtures are generated automatically with balanced scheduling.

Step 4 — Generate fixtures

Click Generate Fixtures. Pitch Planner will create all the match pairings using a balanced algorithm. For round-robin, this uses the circle rotation method so every team gets an equal number of home and away games.

Step 5 — Set up scheduling (optional)

If you want to assign matches to specific dates, venues, and time slots:

1. Add your venues under the Venues tab
2. Configure time slots and rest day preferences under Schedule Settings
3. Click Generate Schedule to automatically assign matches

You can also schedule matches manually by editing each fixture.

Step 6 — Publish and share

When you’re ready, click Publish to make your tournament public. You’ll get a shareable link (e.g. pitch-planner.app/t/your-tournament-id) that anyone can view without logging in.

Tips

• You can enter results at any time — standings update automatically
• Edit team names, add venues, or change settings at any point before or during the tournament
• Use the Share tab to copy your public link or toggle the tournament between private and public