Group stage and play-off tournament generator
Round robin groups first, then a knockout for those who made it through.
Groups + play-off is the format of most world championships. The field is split into small groups, every group plays a round robin, and the best of each group go through to a knockout that ends in a final. Everyone gets several matches, and the event still finishes with one champion.
TurniCup runs both stages inside one tournament. The groups are created each with its own table. Once the last group match is played, the play-off is drawn from the tables in one step.
How the groups and the play-off fit together
You choose the number of groups — between 2 and 8 — and put the participants into them. Each group is a round robin of its own: everyone in it plays everyone else once, and the results go into the group's table.
When every group has finished, you decide who goes through. The top two of each group is the usual cut and the one TurniCup suggests, but the choice is yours: take only the winners, take the top three, or settle a tie on the last qualifying place yourself. The qualifiers are then drawn into a single elimination bracket that runs to the final.
How many matches it takes
A group of four plays 6 matches, a group of five plays 10. Sixteen players in four groups of four is 24 group matches; the top two of each group make an 8-player play-off with 7 more. That is 31 matches in total — against 120 for a full round robin of the same sixteen — and every player is guaranteed three.
Keep the groups small. Every extra player in a group adds a match for each of the others, which is why four or five per group is where most events land.
Seeding the play-off from the group tables
Group winners take the top seeds, runners-up the next ones, and so on down the tables. Among players who finished in the same place, the better record — table points, then wins, then score — seeds higher.
Two players from the same group are kept apart in the first round, so nobody replays a group match straight away. And when the number of qualifiers is not 4, 8 or 16, the byes go to the best group winners: three groups sending two each make six qualifiers in an 8-slot bracket, and the two strongest winners skip the first round.
When to use groups and a play-off
Use it when the field is too big for one round robin and the result too important for a straight knockout: club championships, school and company tournaments, futsal and five-a-side days, table tennis, darts and esports events with sixteen or more entries.
Skip it for a small field. With six or eight players a single round robin decides the winner without a second stage, and with one evening and few tables a single elimination bracket will finish where this will not.
Build one in a few minutes
- 1
Create the tournament
Pick groups + play-off as the format and set the number of groups.
- 2
Fill the groups
Add the participants to each group, or import a spreadsheet with one sheet per group.
- 3
Share the QR code
Players follow their group's fixtures and table on their own phones.
- 4
Play the groups
Every result re-sorts the group table instantly.
- 5
Draw the play-off
Tick who goes through; the knockout is seeded from the tables for you.
Common questions
- How many groups can I have?
- Between 2 and 8. Each group is a round robin with its own table and its own fixtures.
- How many players go through from each group?
- As many as you choose. TurniCup ticks the top two of each table to start with — the most common cut — and you can change that before the play-off is drawn.
- What if the number of qualifiers is not 4, 8 or 16?
- The play-off bracket is filled up with byes, and those go to the group winners with the best record. Six qualifiers make an 8-slot bracket in which the two strongest winners skip the first round.
- Is the group stage free?
- It needs a paid plan. Every group is a bracket of its own and the play-off is one more, while the free plan holds a single bracket. The Light plan already covers up to 8 groups plus the play-off.