Bracket format
LiveGroup Stage
Groups, then knockout. World Cup style.
World Cup format. Split teams into groups, play a round-robin inside each, send top finishers into a single-elim knockout. Build each piece below.
Walkthrough
How this format works
Group A
- 1Team 1
- 2Team 2
- 3Team 3
- 4Team 4
Group B
- 1Team 5
- 2Team 6
- 3Team 7
- 4Team 8
Group C
- 1Team 9
- 2Team 10
- 3Team 11
- 4Team 12
Group D
- 1Team 13
- 2Team 14
- 3Team 15
- 4Team 16
Teams play a mini round-robin inside their pool, then the top finishers cross into a knockout bracket.
Build one step by step
From an empty editor to a finished, printable group stage bracket.
- 1
Add teams and set the group size
Enter your teams and decide how many groups you want. Four teams per group is the common choice.
- 2
Generate the groups
The editor splits teams into balanced pools and builds a round-robin inside each group.
- 3
Play the group games
Every team plays the others in its pool. The standings rank each group by points.
- 4
Carry the top finishers across
The top one or two from each group advance. The rest are done.
- 5
Run the knockout
Seed the qualifiers, generate the bracket, and play it down to a single champion.
About
About this format
Group stage plus knockout is what the World Cup and the Champions League run on. The pitch: pool play gives every team a few guaranteed games (nobody gets bounced opening day), but you still end with a clean champion via the knockout. Typical setups are 4 groups of 4, 8 groups of 4, or 6 groups of 3. Top one or two from each group advance. Right now My Bracket App builds each piece on its own. Round-robin for the groups, single-elim for the knockout. A combined editor that wires the two together is on the roadmap.
Features
What you get
- Build each group with the round-robin editor
- Standings sort by points → goal difference → goals for
- Build the knockout separately with the bracket editor
- Mix and match: 4×4, 8×4, 6×3. Whatever your tournament needs
- Print groups and knockout side-by-side on one PDF
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is there a single editor that does both?
Not yet. For now, each group is its own round-robin and the knockout is a separate bracket. Combined editor is on the roadmap. Sign up to get the launch email.
How do tiebreakers work?
Standings sort by points, then goal difference, then goals for. Head-to-head tiebreakers need to be applied manually for now. Same as most paper-based formats.
How many teams typically advance from each group?
Usually the top two. Group winner and runner-up. For 6-group formats you also see the four best third-place teams advance.
Related bracket formats
Pre-built brackets you can grab
Ready to build a group stage bracket?
Open the editor, customize teams and seeds, score matches as you play.
Build the group stage