🏆 Placement matches

Placement matches

With placement matches, every pool position plays the same position from the other pools. Everyone keeps playing and every team ends up with a final place — handy for youth and club tournaments where nobody should go home after the pools.

Example with 2 pools

• the winner of pool A against the winner of pool B → the final, so places 1–2
• runner-up against runner-up → places 3–4
• third against third → places 5–6, and so on

With more pools every position becomes a small bracket: with 4 pools the four pool winners play semi-finals and a final for places 1 to 4, the four runners-up play for places 5 to 8, and so on. With an odd number of pools, one team per position gets a bye in the first round.

Creating placement matches

1. Make sure the pools have been drawn — at least 2 pools are needed.
2. On the Indeling (draw) tab, click 🏆 Add knockout, or ↻ on an existing bracket.
3. The 🏅 Placement matches block sits at the bottom of the dialog.
4. Choose up to which pool position you want to play on — All positions lets everyone play — and click Create placement matches.

You can also pick it right at the start: a category without a structure shows the format card Group stage and placement matches.

Do you also want to avoid everyone playing everyone in the pool — e.g. 8 teams in 2 pools of 4 with 2 matches per team? See Not everyone plays everyone in the pool.

Note: placement matches replace the entire final stage of that category. Existing brackets of that level are removed.

What you get

Every series becomes its own bracket with a telling name: Places 1–2, Places 3–4, … The round label mentions the series, e.g. Final (3–4), in the schedule, on the live page, on TV and in the app. Teams are filled in automatically as soon as the pools have finished, and the ↻ button on a card rebuilds a single series.

Playing order

The lowest places are played first and the final is always the last match: with 8 teams that means places 7–8 first, then 5–6, then 3–4 and the final to close. With several pitches the series run side by side and move along together; on a single pitch they follow one another up to the final.

Building a placement match yourself (free matches)

Free matches let you add extra matches outside the pools and the knockout — for example a single 3rd/4th place match or an exhibition game.

1. Go to Indeling (draw).
2. Click + on the Free matches card.
3. Pick the home and away team in the two dropdowns.

Winner or loser from the knockout

In every team dropdown, below the regular teams, you will find the group From the knockout, with options such as Winner W3 — Semi-final or Loser W3 — Semi-final.

Choose such an option to link a placement match to the outcome of a knockout match. The team is filled in automatically as soon as that match has been played.

Consolation final in one click

For the classic consolation final (losers of the semi-finals) there is nothing to set up manually: click the 🥉 button on the knockout card and the consolation final is created automatically.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly are placement matches?

Every group position plays the same position from the other groups. With two groups the winner of A plays the winner of B for places 1–2, the runners-up play for places 3–4, and so on. With more groups each position becomes a small bracket: with four groups the four group winners play semi-finals and a final for places 1 to 4.

Does every team get a final ranking?

Yes, that is the whole point: everyone keeps playing and nobody has to go home after the groups. You do choose how far down the group positions you want to play — with All positions everyone plays.

In what order are placement matches played?

The lowest places first, the final always last. With eight teams that means places 7–8 first, then 5–6, then 3–4 and finally the final. With several pitches the series run alongside each other; on a single pitch they follow on neatly towards the final.

I only need one extra match — do I have to redo everything?

No. For a classic third-place play-off, just click the 🥉 button on the knockout card. For a single extra match use + Single match; there you can pick Winner or Loser of a knockout match as a team, so the team fills in automatically. Do note: full placement matches do replace the existing final stage of that category.