17 Team Double Elimination Bracket

A blank 17 team double elimination bracket: upper bracket, lower bracket, grand final and reset, 33 numbered games in all. Every lower bracket slot says which game its team drops from. Print it, or fill it in online.

Fill this bracket in online →
Blank 17 team double elimination bracket: upper and lower brackets, grand final and reset game, 33 numbered games

Click the bracket to open it full size, or scroll sideways to see all of it.

How a 17 team double elimination bracket works

The upper bracket (winners bracket) is a normal 17 team single elimination bracket, so seeds 1 to 15 get a bye into round 2. It has 5 rounds and 16 games, and its winner reaches the grand final without a loss.

A team that loses in the upper bracket drops into the lower bracket (losers bracket). The lower bracket has 7 rounds and 15 games. Teams that lose later in the upper bracket join later in the lower bracket, and the drop order is reversed to make early rematches less likely. A loss in the lower bracket knocks a team out. The bracket image labels every drop, for example "Loser of G1".

The lower bracket winner has one loss and the upper bracket winner has none. They meet in the grand final (G32). If the lower bracket team wins, both teams have one loss, so a reset game (G33) decides the title. That is why a 17 team double elimination bracket has 32 games, or 33 with the reset.

Every team plays at least 2 games, because a team is only out after its second loss. The most any team can play is 10: a team that loses once in the upper bracket, wins the lower bracket, then wins the grand final and plays the reset.

For the rules that apply at every size, see how a double elimination bracket works.

Order of play

Every game in the bracket, numbered as on the printable sheet. Upper and lower bracket games can run side by side once the games that feed them are finished.

RoundGameMatchup
Upper round 1G1Seed 16 v Seed 17
Upper round 2G2Seed 1 v Winner of G1
G3Seed 8 v Seed 9
G4Seed 4 v Seed 13
G5Seed 5 v Seed 12
G6Seed 2 v Seed 15
G7Seed 7 v Seed 10
G8Seed 3 v Seed 14
G9Seed 6 v Seed 11
Upper round 3G10Winner of G2 v Winner of G3
G11Winner of G4 v Winner of G5
G12Winner of G6 v Winner of G7
G13Winner of G8 v Winner of G9
Upper round 4G14Winner of G10 v Winner of G11
G15Winner of G12 v Winner of G13
Upper finalG16Winner of G14 v Winner of G15
Lower round 1G17Loser of G1 v Loser of G9
Lower round 2G18Winner of G17 v Loser of G8
G19Loser of G7 v Loser of G6
G20Loser of G5 v Loser of G4
G21Loser of G3 v Loser of G2
Lower round 3G22Winner of G18 v Loser of G13
G23Winner of G19 v Loser of G12
G24Winner of G20 v Loser of G11
G25Winner of G21 v Loser of G10
Lower round 4G26Winner of G22 v Winner of G23
G27Winner of G24 v Winner of G25
Lower round 5G28Winner of G26 v Loser of G15
G29Winner of G27 v Loser of G14
Lower round 6G30Winner of G28 v Winner of G29
Lower finalG31Winner of G30 v Loser of G16
Grand finalG32Winner of G16 v Winner of G31
Reset (if needed)G33Rematch of G32, played only if the lower bracket team wins it

17 teams in other formats

17 teams in each format. Time slots: rounds that must be played one after another, with enough courts for every ready game.
FormatGamesGames per teamTime slots
17 team single elimination bracket161 to 55
17 team double elimination bracket32 or 332 to 109 or 10
Round robin1361617
Swiss system404 or 55

Fill it in online

Open this bracket in Easy Bracket Maker to type in real team names, keep this seeding or shuffle it, and enter scores as games finish. Winners move on automatically and losers drop to the right lower bracket game. Export it as SVG, PNG, CSV or a printable sheet, or send players a link. It runs in your browser and saves on your device; there is no account.

Open the 17 team bracket →

Other sizes

For a different number of teams, see the 16 team double elimination bracket or the 18 team double elimination bracket, or pick any size below.

Questions

How many games are in a 17 team double elimination bracket?

32, or 33 if the grand final goes to a reset. Every team except the champion loses exactly twice, which makes 32 games; the reset is the one extra game, played when the champion has also lost once.

Who gets a bye in a 17 team double elimination bracket?

Seeds 1 To 15. 17 teams go into a 32-slot bracket, which leaves 15 empty slots. The byes go to the top seeds, who start in round 2, so a higher seed earns an easier path.

How many games does each team play?

At least 2 and at most 10.

How long does a 17 team double elimination tournament take?

With one court and 30-minute games, the 32 games take 16 hours back to back (16.5 hours with a reset). With enough courts to play every ready game at once, it takes 9 rounds (10 with a reset), because each game waits for the games that feed it.

What is a grand final reset?

The upper bracket winner reaches the grand final unbeaten. If the lower bracket team wins it, both teams have one loss, so one more game decides the champion.