Elimination tournament

Elimination tournament may refer to any of several types of tournament in which each player has a set number of losses before elimination from the competition.


This type of pairing is popular in Tennis, with its bracket pairing system. From each bracket of two players, only one winner emerges to play the next opponent:

Round 1 Round 2

[Abe v Ben] -> [Abe v Carla]

[Carla v Dan]


The brackets above shows Round 1 pairings for Abe and Ben, with Abe winning and proceeding to Round 2, likewise Carla and Dan are paired, with Carla proceeding to face Abe in Round 2. Ben and Dan are eliminated during Round 1 and do not participate in Round 2 or further rounds.

Final rounds of FIFA World Cup Tournaments are played to an Elimination pairing system.

See also