16 Team Single Elimination Bracket

A ready-to-run 16-team single elimination bracket — 15 matches over 4 rounds. It's live below: click teams to advance them, or print the blank version and fill it by hand.

Total matches	15
Rounds	4
Byes in round one	none — field is a clean power of two
First-round games	match 1: seed 1 vs seed 16 · match 2: seed 8 vs seed 9 · match 3: seed 4 vs seed 13 · match 4: seed 5 vs seed 12 · match 5: seed 2 vs seed 15 · match 6: seed 7 vs seed 10 · match 7: seed 3 vs seed 14 · match 8: seed 6 vs seed 11
Champion plays	4 matches (every seed)

⬇ Download PDF

Fields hidden — the bracket prints clean. Click “Add scores & times” to log results.

Round of 16

Match 1

1Team 1

16Team 16

Match 2

8Team 8

9Team 9

Match 3

4Team 4

13Team 13

Match 4

5Team 5

12Team 12

Match 5

2Team 2

15Team 15

Match 6

7Team 7

10Team 10

Match 7

3Team 3

14Team 14

Match 8

6Team 6

11Team 11

Quarterfinals

Match 9

Winner of Match 1

Winner of Match 2

Match 10

Winner of Match 3

Winner of Match 4

Match 11

Winner of Match 5

Winner of Match 6

Match 12

Winner of Match 7

Winner of Match 8

Semifinals

Match 13

Winner of Match 9

Winner of Match 10

Match 14

Winner of Match 11

Winner of Match 12

Final

Match 15

Winner of Match 13

Winner of Match 14

Champion

Champion path by seed: 4 matches (every seed). The pairings above come out of standard seeding — seed 1 anchored against the last seed — and the count checks: 16 teams, 15 matches, one loss each for 15 of them. Replace Team 1…Team 16 with your own names via the generator, or keep them and run it as a blind draw with the seeding switch. Prefer paper? Download the blank bracket as a PDF and print it as-is.

16-team single elimination questions

How many matches does a 16-team single elimination bracket have?

15. Every match eliminates one team and 16 − 1 = 15 teams must lose before a champion stands alone — the bracket above enforces it structurally.

How many rounds and byes are in the 16-team version?

4 rounds and no byes — 16 is already a power of two, so every seed plays round 1: M1: seed 1 vs seed 16 · M2: seed 8 vs seed 9 · M3: seed 4 vs seed 13 · M4: seed 5 vs seed 12 · M5: seed 2 vs seed 15 · M6: seed 7 vs seed 10 · M7: seed 3 vs seed 14 · M8: seed 6 vs seed 11.

Who does seed 1 play in the 16-team bracket?

Seed 1 plays seed 16 in match 1 (the first game of the bracket) under standard seeding — top seeds meet the bottom seeds first and can only clash in the final.

Other sizes: 4 teams · 6 teams · 8 teams · 12 teams · 32 teams · all printable brackets