Knockout (Single-elimination)
A knockout, or single-elimination tournament, is a bracket where the loser of each match is eliminated and winners advance until one champion remains.
How a knockout works
Players are placed in a bracket and paired off. The winner of each match advances to the next round; the loser is out. Rounds continue — last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final — until one player is left. It's fast and high-stakes: every match is must-win.
Seeding and byes
Seeding tries to keep the strongest entrants apart early so they meet later. When the number of players isn't a power of two (8, 16, 32…), some get a bye — a free pass through the first round — to even out the bracket. Good tools, including Cupside, handle seeding and byes automatically.
Knockout vs round-robin
A knockout is quick and dramatic but punishes a single off day. A round-robin is fairer over many games but takes longer. Group-stage-into-playoffs formats blend both: a round-robin to seed, then a knockout to finish.
Put it into play with Cupside.
Cupside is the free app for running competitive eFootball — tournaments, leagues and clans, with results backed by proof.