20 Team Double Elimination Bracket Excel May 2026

He then protected all cells except the team name entry cells so no one could accidentally break the bracket mid-tournament. The next morning, Mark printed 8 copies of the Excel sheet (legal size, landscape). He taped two sheets together to make one giant bracket. The teams loved it. No byes were unfair. Every loss had a path.

Winners Bracket: R1: 4 games (8 teams), 12 teams get bye R2: 8 games (16 teams) ← includes 4 R1 winners + 12 byes R3: 4 games R4: 2 games R5: 1 game (Winners Final) 20 team double elimination bracket excel

Mark added a checkbox in Excel: Linked to a formula: =IF(LBWinner = WBChampion, “Tournament Over”, “Game 39 needed”) He then protected all cells except the team

This pulled the winner from a previous game into the next slot. The teams loved it

6 losers from WB Round 1 play in 3 games. LB2: 3 winners from LB1 + 8 losers from WB Round 2 = 11 teams? That doesn’t work (odd number). This is the trap.

He also added a column that referenced the exact cell in the losers bracket sheet. For example: ="LB Round 2, Game L4" Step 5: The Finals Logic (The “If Necessary” Game) In double elimination, if the losers bracket winner beats the winners bracket champion, a final second match is played.