Brackets / Pool play / 32 teams

32-team pool play and bracket

8 ways to split 32 teams, each with a playoff bracket. The drawing shows the split with the fewest games.

Pool A # Team W D L PF PA Pts 1 Seed 1 20 Seed 20 21 Seed 21 Games G1 Seed 20 v Seed 21 G2 Seed 21 v Seed 1 G3 Seed 1 v Seed 20 Pool B # Team W D L PF PA Pts 2 Seed 2 19 Seed 19 22 Seed 22 Games G4 Seed 19 v Seed 22 G5 Seed 22 v Seed 2 G6 Seed 2 v Seed 19 Pool C # Team W D L PF PA Pts 3 Seed 3 18 Seed 18 23 Seed 23 Games G7 Seed 18 v Seed 23 G8 Seed 23 v Seed 3 G9 Seed 3 v Seed 18 Pool D # Team W D L PF PA Pts 4 Seed 4 17 Seed 17 24 Seed 24 Games G10 Seed 17 v Seed 24 G11 Seed 24 v Seed 4 G12 Seed 4 v Seed 17 Pool E # Team W D L PF PA Pts 5 Seed 5 16 Seed 16 25 Seed 25 Games G13 Seed 16 v Seed 25 G14 Seed 25 v Seed 5 G15 Seed 5 v Seed 16 Pool F # Team W D L PF PA Pts 6 Seed 6 15 Seed 15 26 Seed 26 Games G16 Seed 15 v Seed 26 G17 Seed 26 v Seed 6 G18 Seed 6 v Seed 15 Pool G # Team W D L PF PA Pts 7 Seed 7 14 Seed 14 27 Seed 27 Games G19 Seed 14 v Seed 27 G20 Seed 27 v Seed 7 G21 Seed 7 v Seed 14 Pool H # Team W D L PF PA Pts 8 Seed 8 13 Seed 13 28 Seed 28 Games G22 Seed 13 v Seed 28 G23 Seed 28 v Seed 8 G24 Seed 8 v Seed 13 Pool I # Team W D L PF PA Pts 9 Seed 9 12 Seed 12 29 Seed 29 32 Seed 32 Games G25 Seed 9 v Seed 32 G26 Seed 12 v Seed 29 G27 Seed 32 v Seed 12 G28 Seed 29 v Seed 9 G29 Seed 29 v Seed 32 G30 Seed 9 v Seed 12 Pool J # Team W D L PF PA Pts 10 Seed 10 11 Seed 11 30 Seed 30 31 Seed 31 Games G31 Seed 10 v Seed 31 G32 Seed 11 v Seed 30 G33 Seed 31 v Seed 11 G34 Seed 30 v Seed 10 G35 Seed 30 v Seed 31 G36 Seed 10 v Seed 11 Top 1 from each pool advance, plus the 6 best next-place teams. : playoff Playoff bracket after pool play. Seeds are pool finishing places. Round 1 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final G37 1st in Pool A Best 2nd-place #6 G38 1st in Pool H 1st in Pool I G39 1st in Pool D Best 2nd-place #3 G40 1st in Pool E Best 2nd-place #2 G41 1st in Pool B Best 2nd-place #5 G42 1st in Pool G 1st in Pool J G43 1st in Pool C Best 2nd-place #4 G44 1st in Pool F Best 2nd-place #1 G45 Winner G37 Winner G38 G46 Winner G39 Winner G40 G47 Winner G41 Winner G42 G48 Winner G43 Winner G44 G49 Winner G45 Winner G46 G50 Winner G47 Winner G48 G51 Winner G49 Winner G50

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32teams
8splits offered
51games in the shortest split

Ways to split 32 teams

10 pools (A: seeds 1, 20, 21; B: seeds 2, 19, 22; C: seeds 3, 18, 23; D: seeds 4, 17, 24; E: seeds 5, 16, 25; F: seeds 6, 15, 26; G: seeds 7, 14, 27; H: seeds 8, 13, 28; I: seeds 9, 12, 29, 32; J: seeds 10, 11, 30, 31). 36 pool games, then 16 teams in the bracket: the top 1 from each pool plus 6 wildcards. 51 games in all.

8 pools (A: seeds 1, 16, 17, 32; B: seeds 2, 15, 18, 31; C: seeds 3, 14, 19, 30; D: seeds 4, 13, 20, 29; E: seeds 5, 12, 21, 28; F: seeds 6, 11, 22, 27; G: seeds 7, 10, 23, 26; H: seeds 8, 9, 24, 25). 48 pool games, then 8 teams in the bracket: the top 1 from each pool. 55 games in all.

9 pools (A: seeds 1, 18, 19; B: seeds 2, 17, 20; C: seeds 3, 16, 21; D: seeds 4, 15, 22; E: seeds 5, 14, 23, 32; F: seeds 6, 13, 24, 31; G: seeds 7, 12, 25, 30; H: seeds 8, 11, 26, 29; I: seeds 9, 10, 27, 28). 42 pool games, then 16 teams in the bracket: the top 1 from each pool plus 7 wildcards. 57 games in all.

8 pools (A: seeds 1, 16, 17, 32; B: seeds 2, 15, 18, 31; C: seeds 3, 14, 19, 30; D: seeds 4, 13, 20, 29; E: seeds 5, 12, 21, 28; F: seeds 6, 11, 22, 27; G: seeds 7, 10, 23, 26; H: seeds 8, 9, 24, 25). 48 pool games, then 16 teams in the bracket: the top 2 from each pool. 63 games in all.

7 pools (A: seeds 1, 14, 15, 28, 29; B: seeds 2, 13, 16, 27, 30; C: seeds 3, 12, 17, 26, 31; D: seeds 4, 11, 18, 25, 32; E: seeds 5, 10, 19, 24; F: seeds 6, 9, 20, 23; G: seeds 7, 8, 21, 22). 58 pool games, then 8 teams in the bracket: the top 1 from each pool plus 1 wildcard. 65 games in all.

7 pools (A: seeds 1, 14, 15, 28, 29; B: seeds 2, 13, 16, 27, 30; C: seeds 3, 12, 17, 26, 31; D: seeds 4, 11, 18, 25, 32; E: seeds 5, 10, 19, 24; F: seeds 6, 9, 20, 23; G: seeds 7, 8, 21, 22). 58 pool games, then 16 teams in the bracket: the top 2 from each pool plus 2 wildcards. 73 games in all.

6 pools (A: seeds 1, 12, 13, 24, 25; B: seeds 2, 11, 14, 23, 26; C: seeds 3, 10, 15, 22, 27; D: seeds 4, 9, 16, 21, 28; E: seeds 5, 8, 17, 20, 29, 32; F: seeds 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, 31). 70 pool games, then 8 teams in the bracket: the top 1 from each pool plus 2 wildcards. 77 games in all.

6 pools (A: seeds 1, 12, 13, 24, 25; B: seeds 2, 11, 14, 23, 26; C: seeds 3, 10, 15, 22, 27; D: seeds 4, 9, 16, 21, 28; E: seeds 5, 8, 17, 20, 29, 32; F: seeds 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, 31). 70 pool games, then 16 teams in the bracket: the top 2 from each pool plus 4 wildcards. 85 games in all.

The one drawn above

The drawing shows 10 pools with the top 1 and 6 wildcards advancing, the split with the fewest games (51). Pools are snake-seeded, so pool A gets seed 1 and the bracket seeds pool-mates apart in round 1.

Pool games in the 10-pool split

Pool A (seeds 1, 20, 21) plays 1 v 20, 1 v 21, 20 v 21.

Pool B (seeds 2, 19, 22) plays 2 v 19, 2 v 22, 19 v 22.

The other 8 pools follow the same pattern with their own seeds.

Games per team before the bracket

A pool of 3 gives each of its teams 2 games; A pool of 4 gives each of its teams 3 games. The pools are not all the same size, so some teams get a game more than others; the wildcards and the bracket seeding even that out.

The bracket after pools

16 teams advance, so the bracket has 16 places and no byes. The 6 wildcards are the best of the teams that finished just outside the automatic places, ranked on points, then point difference.

Time for the pool stage

The largest pool is 4 teams, so pools need 3 rounds to finish. All 10 pools play each round together.

CourtsPool stage at 30 minutes a game
29 h
44 h 30 min
201 h 30 min

If your field changes

Dropping to 24 teams gives 14 fewer games. Page sizes differ by the formats the numbers allow, so check the nearest size before you commit.

Questions

How should I split 32 teams into pools?

10 pools with the top 1 plus 6 wildcards advancing is the shortest option at 51 games.

How many games is 32-team pool play?

From 51 to 85, depending on the split.

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