4-team single elimination bracket
A blank 4-team single elimination bracket: 3 games, numbered in playing order. Print it, or add your team names and play it online.
- Teams
- 4
- Games
- 3
- Rounds
- 2
- Byes
- 0
- First-round games
- 2
- Most games, one team
- 2
About a 4-team bracket
Four teams is the smallest bracket with semifinals: 1 v 4 and 2 v 3, then the final. It is the usual shape for a top-four playoff at the end of a league season, and it fits comfortably on any paper with room to write scores.
Add a third-place game and every team plays exactly twice, which is often fairer than sending two teams home after one game. With a single court or field, the whole event is three (or four) games back to back.
Byes and the first round
4 is a power of two, so there are no byes: all 4 teams play in the first round (1 v 4, 2 v 3). Each pairing adds up to 5, so seed 1 meets the lowest seed and seeds 1 and 2 can only meet in the final.
No seeding? Write the names in at random, or put the names into the bracket maker and choose Random draw for a reproducible draw you can print.
Round by round
| Round | Games | Game numbers |
|---|---|---|
| Semifinals | 2 | M1–M2 |
| Final | 1 | M3 |
Every game, in order
The same numbers as on the printed bracket, so a scorer can call out “game 5” and everyone knows where to write.
- M1 (Semifinals): Seed 1 v Seed 4
- M2 (Semifinals): Seed 2 v Seed 3
- M3 (Final): Winner of M1 v Winner of M2
How long it takes
Time slots needed if each court or field plays one game per slot and a round must finish before the next starts:
| Courts or fields | Time slots | At 45 minutes a slot |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 h 15 min |
| 2 | 2 | 1 h 30 min |
| 4 | 2 | 1 h 30 min |
Single or double elimination?
In this bracket one loss ends a team’s day, and 2 of the 4 teams are out after the first round. A 4-team double elimination bracket gives every team at least two games, at a cost of 6 or 7 games instead of 3, with a losers’ bracket of 2 rounds. The 4-team double elimination bracket is ready to print.
Final placings
A finished bracket places every team. Teams knocked out in the same round share a place unless you play extra games to separate them.
- 1st: 1 team
- 2nd: 1 team
- 3rd–4th: 2 teams (or 3rd and 4th after a third-place game)
Printing it
The Print button prints only the bracket, landscape, scaled to one page, with a title and a date line. Smallest text on the page for each paper size (below about 6 pt it is hard to read; handwriting needs the line, not the text):
- Letter (11 × 8.5 in): about 9 pt
- A4 (297 × 210 mm): about 9 pt
- Legal (14 × 8.5 in): about 9 pt
- Tabloid (17 × 11 in): about 9 pt
Letter or A4 is plenty for this size. In the print dialog, choose “Fit to page” or 100% and switch off headers and footers for a clean sheet.
Page last reviewed 30 September 2026.
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Common questions
How many games are in a 4-team single elimination bracket?
3. Every game knocks out one team and all but the champion are knocked out once, so it is always one fewer than the number of teams. A third-place game makes it 4.
How many rounds does a 4-team bracket have?
2: semifinals (2 games), final (1 game).
Does a 4-team bracket need byes?
No. 4 is a power of two, so every team plays in the first round and every round halves the field.