Single Elimination vs Double Elimination: A Complete Guide to Tournament Formats

Single Elimination is a tournament format where a competitor is eliminated after losing just one match. It's also commonly known as a "Knockout Tournament" or "Sudden Death" format.

This format is widely used in major sporting events worldwide, including the FIFA World Cup knockout stage, tennis Grand Slams, and NBA playoffs. Its greatest strengths are simplicity and the ability to determine a winner with minimal matches.

In single elimination, the winner of each match advances to the next round while the loser is immediately eliminated. The last remaining competitor becomes the champion.

Let's look at an example of a 4-player single elimination tournament with players A through D. In Round 1, A vs B and C vs D are played. The winners (A and C) face each other in the final. A total of 3 matches determines the champion.

The number of matches in single elimination is straightforward.

Formula: Number of matches = Number of participants - 1

This works because everyone except the winner loses exactly once.

When the number of participants isn't a power of 2 (8, 16, 32, etc.), "seeding" or "byes" are used. Seeded players skip the first round and enter in the second round.

For example, in a 12-player tournament, 4 players receive byes (skip round 1), while the remaining 8 play in round 1. The 4 winners join the 4 seeded players in round 2.

Seeds are typically awarded to players with the best past results or qualifying performance.

Single elimination has the following advantages and disadvantages.

Double Elimination is a tournament format where a competitor must lose twice before being eliminated. After losing once, players get a second chance in the "losers bracket" and can still win the tournament.

This format is standard in fighting game tournaments like EVO (Evolution Championship Series) and is widely used in esports. It reduces the impact of luck and better reflects true skill levels.

In double elimination, the tournament is split into two brackets.

The Winners Bracket (also called Upper Bracket) is where players who haven't lost any matches compete.

Losing here moves you to the Losers Bracket. Since it's only your first loss, you're not eliminated from the tournament.

The Losers Bracket (also called Lower Bracket) is where players with one loss compete for survival.

In the Losers Bracket, players who dropped from Winners face those who won in Losers. Losing here means two losses total, resulting in elimination.

The Grand Finals is the ultimate showdown between the Winners Bracket champion and the Losers Bracket champion.

The Winners Bracket finalist has zero losses, so losing once still leaves them with only one loss. The Losers Bracket finalist already has one loss, so another loss means elimination.

To maintain fairness, many tournaments use "Grand Finals Reset" rules.

A Bracket Reset occurs when the Losers Bracket finalist wins the first Grand Finals set.

At this point, both players have one loss each, so the bracket is "reset." A second set (the true Grand Finals) is then played to determine the champion.

This means the Losers Bracket finalist must win twice in Grand Finals to become champion, while the Winners Bracket finalist only needs one win. This preserves the advantage of going undefeated through Winners.

Let's look at an example of a 4-player double elimination tournament with players A through D.

Winners Bracket: A beats B, C beats D. Then A beats C, making A the Winners Bracket champion.

Losers Bracket: B and D (Round 1 losers) face off, with B winning (D eliminated). Then C (Winners Finals loser) beats B (B eliminated). C becomes the Losers Bracket champion.

Grand Finals: Winners champion A faces Losers champion C in the final showdown.

Double elimination requires roughly twice as many matches as single elimination.

Formula: Matches = (Participants × 2) - 2 (or - 1)

The difference between -2 and -1 depends on whether a Grand Finals Reset occurs.

Double elimination has the following advantages and disadvantages.

Here's how the two formats compare:

Single and double elimination are used in different contexts.

Double elimination is the standard format for fighting game tournaments. EVO (Evolution Championship Series), the world's largest fighting game tournament, and most major events use double elimination.

Thousands of players compete at EVO annually across games like Street Fighter, Tekken, and Guilty Gear. The format is popular because it gives strong players a fair chance to recover from a single loss.

Esports uses both formats depending on the game and tournament scale.

Dota 2's The International uses double elimination (though without Grand Finals Reset). League of Legends' Worlds, on the other hand, uses single elimination for its knockout stage.

Traditional sports primarily use single elimination.

The FIFA World Cup knockout stage, tennis Grand Slams like Wimbledon, and March Madness (NCAA Basketball Tournament) all use single elimination. Some events like the World Cup include a third-place match.

Some leagues like MLB and NBA playoffs use "best-of" series (e.g., best-of-7), which prevents elimination from a single game result.

Choose based on your tournament's goals and constraints. Single elimination is best when time is limited or you have many participants. Double elimination is better when fairness is important and you want results to accurately reflect skill levels.

When the number of participants isn't a power of 2, some players have no opponent in round 1. These players receive a "bye" and automatically advance to round 2. This is essentially the same as being seeded.

In single elimination, the two semifinal losers tie for 3rd place. If you need a single 3rd-place finisher, hold a separate third-place match. In double elimination, the Losers Finals loser gets 3rd place and the winner gets 2nd (or potentially 1st), so rankings are naturally determined.

With roughly twice as many matches, double elimination takes about twice as long in theory. However, if Winners and Losers brackets run in parallel, actual time increase can be less significant.

Yes, some tournaments skip the reset due to time constraints. In this case, the Winners Bracket finalist loses their "undefeated advantage," so it's not technically true double elimination. However, it's sometimes adopted for practical reasons.