21 Team Double Elimination Bracket
A blank 21 team double elimination bracket: upper bracket, lower bracket, grand final and reset, 41 numbered games in all. Every lower bracket slot says which game its team drops from. Print it, or fill it in online.
- 21 teams
- 40 or 41 games
- 5 upper + 7 lower rounds
- 11 first-round byes
Click the bracket to open it full size, or scroll sideways to see all of it.
How a 21 team double elimination bracket works
The upper bracket (winners bracket) is a normal 21 team single elimination bracket, so seeds 1 to 11 get a bye into round 2. It has 5 rounds and 20 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 19 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 (G40). If the lower bracket team wins, both teams have one loss, so a reset game (G41) decides the title. That is why a 21 team double elimination bracket has 40 games, or 41 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 11: 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.
| Round | Game | Matchup |
|---|---|---|
| Upper round 1 | G1 | Seed 16 v Seed 17 |
| G2 | Seed 13 v Seed 20 | |
| G3 | Seed 12 v Seed 21 | |
| G4 | Seed 15 v Seed 18 | |
| G5 | Seed 14 v Seed 19 | |
| Upper round 2 | G6 | Seed 1 v Winner of G1 |
| G7 | Seed 8 v Seed 9 | |
| G8 | Seed 4 v Winner of G2 | |
| G9 | Seed 5 v Winner of G3 | |
| G10 | Seed 2 v Winner of G4 | |
| G11 | Seed 7 v Seed 10 | |
| G12 | Seed 3 v Winner of G5 | |
| G13 | Seed 6 v Seed 11 | |
| Upper round 3 | G14 | Winner of G6 v Winner of G7 |
| G15 | Winner of G8 v Winner of G9 | |
| G16 | Winner of G10 v Winner of G11 | |
| G17 | Winner of G12 v Winner of G13 | |
| Upper round 4 | G18 | Winner of G14 v Winner of G15 |
| G19 | Winner of G16 v Winner of G17 | |
| Upper final | G20 | Winner of G18 v Winner of G19 |
| Lower round 1 | G21 | Loser of G1 v Loser of G13 |
| G22 | Loser of G2 v Loser of G11 | |
| G23 | Loser of G3 v Loser of G10 | |
| G24 | Loser of G4 v Loser of G9 | |
| G25 | Loser of G5 v Loser of G7 | |
| Lower round 2 | G26 | Winner of G21 v Loser of G12 |
| G27 | Winner of G22 v Winner of G23 | |
| G28 | Winner of G24 v Loser of G8 | |
| G29 | Winner of G25 v Loser of G6 | |
| Lower round 3 | G30 | Winner of G26 v Loser of G17 |
| G31 | Winner of G27 v Loser of G16 | |
| G32 | Winner of G28 v Loser of G15 | |
| G33 | Winner of G29 v Loser of G14 | |
| Lower round 4 | G34 | Winner of G30 v Winner of G31 |
| G35 | Winner of G32 v Winner of G33 | |
| Lower round 5 | G36 | Winner of G34 v Loser of G19 |
| G37 | Winner of G35 v Loser of G18 | |
| Lower round 6 | G38 | Winner of G36 v Winner of G37 |
| Lower final | G39 | Winner of G38 v Loser of G20 |
| Grand final | G40 | Winner of G20 v Winner of G39 |
| Reset (if needed) | G41 | Rematch of G40, played only if the lower bracket team wins it |
21 teams in other formats
| Format | Games | Games per team | Time slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 team single elimination bracket | 20 | 1 to 5 | 5 |
| 21 team double elimination bracket | 40 or 41 | 2 to 11 | 10 or 11 |
| Round robin | 210 | 20 | 21 |
| Swiss system | 50 | 4 or 5 | 5 |
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 21 team bracket →Other sizes
For a different number of teams, see the 20 team double elimination bracket or the 22 team double elimination bracket, or pick any size below.
- 3 teams
- 4 teams
- 5 teams
- 6 teams
- 7 teams
- 8 teams
- 9 teams
- 10 teams
- 11 teams
- 12 teams
- 13 teams
- 14 teams
- 15 teams
- 16 teams
- 17 teams
- 18 teams
- 19 teams
- 20 teams
- 21 teams
- 22 teams
- 23 teams
- 24 teams
- 25 teams
- 26 teams
- 27 teams
- 28 teams
- 29 teams
- 30 teams
- 31 teams
- 32 teams
Questions
How many games are in a 21 team double elimination bracket?
40, or 41 if the grand final goes to a reset. Every team except the champion loses exactly twice, which makes 40 games; the reset is the one extra game, played when the champion has also lost once.
Who gets a bye in a 21 team double elimination bracket?
Seeds 1 To 11. 21 teams go into a 32-slot bracket, which leaves 11 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 11.
How long does a 21 team double elimination tournament take?
With one court and 30-minute games, the 40 games take 20 hours back to back (20.5 hours with a reset). With enough courts to play every ready game at once, it takes 10 rounds (11 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.