How to Run a 23 Team Double-Elimination Tournament
Using our free tournament bracket maker, you can create a double-elimination tournament for 23 teams in a few steps!
The app allows you to follow scores, automatically advances players to the next games or rounds, and handles the grand final matches!
How Does 23 Team Double-Elimination Tournament Work?
A 23 team double-elimination tournament consists of three main brackets:
Winner’s Bracket
It’s identical to a single-elimination bracket for 23 teams, with multiple rounds and games to determine who advances.
The difference is that when they lose in this bracket, they drop off to the loser’s bracket.
Loser’s Bracket
Here, the participants have a second chance: if they win all games in this bracket, they will get to play in the finals!
Finals
In a 23 team tournament, the losers’ bracket winner plays the team that just fell from the winners’ bracket, with the loser finishing 3rd and the winner advancing to the Grand Final against the winners’ bracket champion for 1st and 2nd place. If the winners’ bracket team loses the Grand Final, its first defeat, a deciding Grand Final Reset match is played to determine the champion.
Our tournament app manages this entire process automatically, so you don’t have to track matchups or results.
Seeding
You can select between seeded, blind draw or manual pairing for the initial round:
- seeded: Top-ranked players will meet later in the tournament.
- blind draw: The teams will get shuffled and paired randomly.
- manual seeding: Players will be paired in the order entered, with the last ones assigned byes (if necessary).
Compared to other Tournament Formats
Double-elimination tournament format for 23 teams is somewhere in between the round robin and single elimination in terms of time needed and fairness: it takes longer than single elimination and is quicker than round robin, and is more fair than single elimination.
| Format | Total games | Games per team | Rounds | Fairness | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round Robin | 253 | 22 | 23 | Everyone plays everyone | Best for leagues |
| Single Elimination | 22 | 1–5 | 5 | Harsh cutoff | Best for quick events |
| Double Elimination | 44–45 | 2–10 | 10 | More forgiving | Popular in esports |
| Swiss System | 55 | 5 | 5 | Balanced, flexible | Chess, card games |
Printable 23 Team Double Elimination Bracket
If you need, you can also print your generated bracket:
