Tournament

A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two distinct senses:

The first sense is common in sports and games where each match must involve a small number of competitors, often precisely two, as in most competitive team sports, racket sports, combat sports, card games, and board games. Such tournaments allow large numbers to compete against each other in spite of the restriction on numbers in a single match. All golf tournaments meet the second definition, but while match play tournaments also meet the first, stroke play tournaments do not, since there are no distinct matches within such tournaments. In contrast, association football leagues like the Premier League hold tournaments only in the first sense, as matches are spread across many venues over an extended period of time. Many tournaments meet both definitions; for example, the Wimbledon tennis championship.

The term match may be used in multiple ways. Most commonly, it is used to refer to a tournament-match (or series, fixture, or tie), the results of which are used in some way to determine the winner of a tournament. It can also refer to a game-match (or game, rubber, or leg), one or more of which are used to determine the result of a single tournament-match. If necessary, one or more tiebreak-matches may also take place. Sometimes there are further layers, such as in tennis, where a tie (or match) can consist (but not always) of sets which themselves consist of games. For example, in the Major League Baseball postseason, a series between two teams involves up to five or seven games between the two teams, with the team that reaches three ("best of five") or four ("best of seven") wins winning the series. In the Davis Cup tennis tournament, a tie between two nations involves five rubbers between the nations' players. The team that wins the most rubbers wins the tie. In the later rounds of UEFA Champions League, each fixture is played over two legs. The scores of each leg are added, and the team with the higher aggregate score wins the fixture, with extra time, and if necessary, a penalty shoot-out used if the scores are level after both matches conclude. In this case, the first tiebreak-match is extra time (modified game-match with reduced duration) and the second tiebreak-match is a penalty shoot-out.

A knockout tournament or elimination tournament is divided into successive rounds; each competitor plays in at least one fixture per round. The top-ranked competitors in each fixture progress to the next round. As rounds progress, the number of competitors and fixtures decreases. The final round, usually known as the final or cup final, consists of just one fixture; the winner of which is the overall champion.

In a single-elimination tournament, only the top-ranked competitors in a fixture progress; in 2-competitor games, only the winner progresses. All other competitors are eliminated. This ensures a winner is decided with the minimum number of fixtures. However, most competitors will be eliminated after relatively few matches; a single bad or unlucky performance can nullify many preceding excellent ones.

A double-elimination tournament may be used in 2-competitor games to allow each competitor a single loss without being eliminated from the tournament. All losers from the main bracket enter a losers' bracket, the winner of which plays off against the main bracket's winner.

A triple-elimination tournament allows a competitor to lose two games and creates a third bracket or fourth bracket which are usually followed by a playoff. It is commonly used in curling tournaments.

Some elimination tournaments are in a best-of-n series, requiring a competitor to lose a majority of n games (in a series against the same opponent) before being eliminated (e.g. in a best-of-7 games series, the winner must win 4 games).