The most common tournament shape in existence. Four rounds, fifteen matches, one champion — fits cleanly on letter or A4 in landscape. 4 rounds, 15 matches.
Hit Print and fill in names by hand. Every match slot has a faint baseline so your handwriting stays level. If you want results to update live — multiple people filling in winners on their phones from the same bracket — create an interactive version using the button above.
A 16-team single elimination bracket has 4 rounds and 15 total matches. Every team except the champion loses exactly once — that's the single-elimination invariant.
Round 1 is the Round of 16. The bracket narrows to eight (quarterfinals), then four (semifinals), then two (final).
If your field isn't exactly 16 teams, fill some slots with "BYE" — whichever team is matched against a BYE automatically advances.
Standard seeding pairs the highest seed with the lowest, working inward. For sixteen teams: 1 vs 16, 8 vs 9, 4 vs 13, 5 vs 12 on one side; 2 vs 15, 7 vs 10, 3 vs 14, 6 vs 11 on the other. Seeds 1 and 2 end up on opposite halves, meeting only in the final if both advance.