Generate Matches Info/Help

The Generate Matches page is used to generate group matches for tournament divisions. See Generate Tournament for information on how it is used with other Groups and Brackets pages.

To use it, enter the number of teams in each group in a division. "Generate" will automatically set up matches so that each team plays all the teams within its group, though it's simple to add or remove matches. It's easy to either intergroup games or single elimination games.

The output is saved automatically for the G&B Assign page, which is used to assign matches with game slots (time/location), but the 'match list' can be copied for use in a spreadsheet or other external scheduling tool.

A "Division" is made up of one or more groups, A-F, with two or more teams per group. A division name/ID is 'U<age><gender>' where age is 8-23, and gender is 'b' or 'g'. The division name/ID is not case sensitive so 'u18b', 'U18b', 'u18B', and 'U18B' are equivalent.

Within the Groups and Brackets software, each division can have a short and long name, so the U-name is not necessarily visible to the public. It is used if a short name is not specified. In tournaments in which the divisions are not age-specific, it's simple to map U-names to other names. For example, U19B can be mapped to 'Varsity' and U18B to 'JV'. 'U20B', 'U19B', and 'U18B' can be mapped to 'EPL', 'La Liga', and 'Bundesliga', or 'Bronze', 'Silver', and 'Gold'. However, this mapping is not set up in Generate Matches.

A group specification consists of a single letter, A-F, optionally followed by the group size, and optionally preceded by a ID number. The group size defaults to the last size specified, or 4 if none has been specified. Every team must be in a group, so if there is only one group in a division, 'A' is used. Examples:

U19B a4 b Two 4-team groups, A & B
U19B a4 b3 A = 4-team group; B = 3-team group
U19B a5 b Two 5-team groups, A & B
U19B A3 B3 C3 Three 3-team groups, A, B, & C
U19B a3 b c Also Three 3-team groups, A, B and C
U19B a11 One 11-team group, A
U19B a11 none One 11-team group, A, with no matches scheduled
u19b a4 b c d Four 4-team groups, A,B,C,D with IDs 1-16
Numeric ID Split Home/Away
Group/ID Intergroup = Single Elim.
Group Relative Prepend Division

This dialog is used to specify the division and the groups within that division, as well as various options. The division is required even though it is not visible in most screen output.

This page looks best with a wide window.

 A.1A.2A.3A.4
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.43,0
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.42,1
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.41,2
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.30,3
 3333
"U19G a4"
All teams in the division are shown in both the top row and left column of the grid. By default, matches are "scheduled" so that every team plays every other team in the group. Each to-be-scheduled match is dark green and lists the two opponents in the block. Clicking on a scheduled match will unschedule it.

Each light green block represents the reverse of a scheduled match. For example, if 'A.1 v A.2' is scheduled, then 'A.2 v A.1' will be light green.

A single row will have the same team on the right side of the match/cell, while a single column will have the same team on the right side of the match/cell.

 A.1A.2A.3A.4
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.42,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.43,0
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.40,2
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.30,2
 3322
Clicking a "reverse" match will schedule it, making the previously scheduled match turn light green. I.e., if 'A.2 v A.1' is light green, clicking on it will turn it dark green, and turn 'A.1 v A.2' light green.

Clicking a scheduled (dark-green) block, will unschedule it. In this grid, 'A.3-A.4' was clicked, so both it and its reverse are white. This indicates that neither A.3-A.4 or A.4-A.3 is scheduled.

 A.1A.2A.3A.4
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.42,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.42,0
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.40,2
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.30,1
 3221
The last cell in a row lists the number of scheduled games and the number of reverse scheduled games in that row. The '2,1' in the A.1 row shows that A.1 is on the left side of two matches and the right side of one. A.1-A.2 is not scheduled, but A.2-A.1 is, in row A.2.

The last cell in a column shows the number of games that column's team is/will be scheduled to play. In this grid, A.1 is scheduled to play 3 matches, A.2 and A.3 are scheduled for 2 matches and A.4 is scheduled for 1 match.


The "Match List" is a list of each scheduled match, clustered so that no team is in a cluster more than once. In this example, A.1 is scheduled in three matches and can only play in one at a time, so there are three clusters. In general, matches listed within a single cluster can be scheduled at the same time, if there are enough fields available.

The Match List is updated any time a change is made to the grid. It will change anytime that a cell is clicked. In many cases, reversing the team order, by clicking on a light green cell, will change the grouping in the match list.

The left "Match List" lists the matches from the initial grid, in which every team plays each other and all the dark green cells are in the top right of the grid.

The right list shows the matches after 'A.4-A.3', 'A.3-A.2', and 'A.3-A.1' have been scheduled, replacing 'A.3-A.4', 'A.2-A.3', and 'A.1-A.3'.

The '// 3' at the bottom of the list is the number of clusters. (Scroll)

Options

"Numeric ID", "Group ID", and "Group Relative" are different ways of referring to teams, as shown below. Preceding a group specification with a number will set the ID of the first team in the group. Column and row headers always use group relative notation, but the rest of the cells and the match list will use the specified notation.

The "Split Home/Away" option will balance the number of matches that a team is on the left or right side of a match, assuming a convention that the order of the teams determines which team is "Home". This option is set in the following examples, though there are many ways of balancing this.

The "Prepend Division" option will insert the division ID into the match list. This option is set for the "Group Relative" notation because it is necessary to uniquely identify a specific team if there are more than one division in the tournament. It is not necessary to set this if "Gen Slots" and "Assign" are used to complete tournament construction, because the division information is retained between the pages.

An earlier version of gen_matches allowed team IDs to be set within the parameter spec. These are currently set in the "Teams" section of TD Builder. It's simplest to stick with Group Relative.

.
U19B A.1 v A.2 U19B A.4 v A.3 U19B A.1 v A.4 U19B A.3 v A.2 U19B A.2 v A.4 U19B A.3 v A.1
A11 v A12 A14 v A13 A11 v A14 A13 v A12 A12 v A14 A13 v A11

Numeric ID

 A.1A.2A.3A.4
A.1 11-1211-1311-142,1
A.2 12-1112-1312-141,2
A.3 13-1113-1213-142,1
A.4 14-1114-1214-131,2
 3333
11 v 12 14 v 13 11 v 14 13 v 12 12 v 14 13 v 11
"U19b a3 b" was used to generate these grids, after setting A.1 to 11 and B.1 to 21 on the "Teams" page, with the "Numeric ID" option selected. Two three-team groups are defined, with each team playing the other teams in the group. No intergroup games are scheduled automatically, but three intergroup games were added to the second grid by clicking on '13-21', '12-22', and '11-23', giving each team 3 group games.

 
 A.1A.2A.3B.1B.2B.3
A.1 11-1211-1311-2111-2211-231,1
A.2 12-1112-1312-2112-2212-231,1
A.3 13-1113-1213-2113-2213-231,1
B.1 21-1121-1221-1321-2221-231,1
B.2 22-1122-1222-1322-2122-231,1
B.3 23-1123-1223-1323-2123-221,1
 222222
 
 A.1A.2A.3B.1B.2B.3
A.1 11-1211-1311-2111-2211-232,1
A.2 12-1112-1312-2112-2212-232,1
A.3 13-1113-1213-2113-2213-232,1
B.1 21-1121-1221-1321-2221-231,2
B.2 22-1122-1222-1322-2122-231,2
B.3 23-1123-1223-1323-2123-221,2
 333333

"U18B A4 B4" was used to generate this grid, with the "Intergroup = Single Elim." option set, and with A.1 = 11 and B.1 = 21. Two four-team groups are defined automatically. The "Intergroup = Single Elim." changes the intergroup matches into single elimination games. The 'A-1' and 'B-1' refer to the top ranking team in groups A and B respectively, so this is a Final between the group winners.

 
 A.1A.2A.3A.4B.1B.2B.3B.4
A.1 A11-A12A11-A13A11-A14A-1:B-1A-1:B-2A-1:B-3A-1:B-43,1
A.2 A12-A11A12-A13A12-A14A-2:B-1A-2:B-2A-2:B-3A-2:B-41,2
A.3 A13-A11A13-A12A13-A14A-3:B-1A-3:B-2A-3:B-3A-3:B-42,1
A.4 A14-A11A14-A12A14-A13A-4:B-1A-4:B-2A-4:B-3A-4:B-41,2
B.1 B-1:A-1B-1:A-2B-1:A-3B-1:A-4B21-B22B21-B23B21-B242,2
B.2 B-2:A-1B-2:A-2B-2:A-3B-2:A-4B22-B21B22-B23B22-B241,2
B.3 B-3:A-1B-3:A-2B-3:A-3B-3:A-4B23-B21B23-B22B23-B242,1
B.4 B-4:A-1B-4:A-2B-4:A-3B-4:A-4B24-B21B24-B22B24-B231,2
 43334333
U18B a3 b c" was used to generate this grid, with the "Intergroup = Single Elim." option set. Three 3-team groups are defined and a single elimination game between the winners of Group B and Group C was added. This schedule was planned for a 2013 tournament, though it was dropped for weather. The winner of Group A was scheduled to play a Wildcard team, i.e., the team with the best record that did not win their group, in the other semifinal, with the semifinal winners meeting in the finals. These two games as well as other consolations games do not show up in the grid.

 
 A.1A.2A.3B.1B.2B.3C.1C.2C.3
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A-1:B-1A-1:B-2A-1:B-3A-1:C-1A-1:C-2A-1:C-30,2
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A-2:B-1A-2:B-2A-2:B-3A-2:C-1A-2:C-2A-2:C-31,1
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A-3:B-1A-3:B-2A-3:B-3A-3:C-1A-3:C-2A-3:C-32,0
B.1 B-1:A-1B-1:A-2B-1:A-3B.1-B.2B.1-B.3B-1:C-1B-1:C-2B-1:C-32,1
B.2 B-2:A-1B-2:A-2B-2:A-3B.2-B.1B.2-B.3B-2:C-1B-2:C-2B-2:C-31,1
B.3 B-3:A-1B-3:A-2B-3:A-3B.3-B.1B.3-B.2B-3:C-1B-3:C-2B-3:C-31,1
C.1 C-1:A-1C-1:A-2C-1:A-3C-1:B-1C-1:B-2C-1:B-3C.1-C.2C.1-C.30,3
C.2 C-2:A-1C-2:A-2C-2:A-3C-2:B-1C-2:B-2C-2:B-3C.2-C.1C.2-C.31,1
C.3 C-3:A-1C-3:A-2C-3:A-3C-3:B-1C-3:B-2C-3:B-3C.3-C.1C.3-C.22,0
 222322322
"U17B A3 B C D" was used to generate this grid, also with the "Intergroup = Single Elim." option set. Four three-team groups are defined automatically. 'A-1:C-1' and 'D-1:B-1' have been added as semifinal single-elimination games. A 'Final' between the two semifinal winners would be added to the schedule manually.

 A.1A.2A.3B.1B.2B.3C.1C.2C.3D.1D.2D.3
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A-1:B-1A-1:B-2A-1:B-3A-1:C-1A-1:C-2A-1:C-3A-1:D-1A-1:D-2A-1:D-32,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A-2:B-1A-2:B-2A-2:B-3A-2:C-1A-2:C-2A-2:C-3A-2:D-1A-2:D-2A-2:D-31,1
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A-3:B-1A-3:B-2A-3:B-3A-3:C-1A-3:C-2A-3:C-3A-3:D-1A-3:D-2A-3:D-31,1
B.1 B-1:A-1B-1:A-2B-1:A-3B.1-B.2B.1-B.3B-1:C-1B-1:C-2B-1:C-3B-1:D-1B-1:D-2B-1:D-31,2
B.2 B-2:A-1B-2:A-2B-2:A-3B.2-B.1B.2-B.3B-2:C-1B-2:C-2B-2:C-3B-2:D-1B-2:D-2B-2:D-31,1
B.3 B-3:A-1B-3:A-2B-3:A-3B.3-B.1B.3-B.2B-3:C-1B-3:C-2B-3:C-3B-3:D-1B-3:D-2B-3:D-31,1
C.1 C-1:A-1C-1:A-2C-1:A-3C-1:B-1C-1:B-2C-1:B-3C.1-C.2C.1-C.3C-1:D-1C-1:D-2C-1:D-31,2
C.2 C-2:A-1C-2:A-2C-2:A-3C-2:B-1C-2:B-2C-2:B-3C.2-C.1C.2-C.3C-2:D-1C-2:D-2C-2:D-31,1
C.3 C-3:A-1C-3:A-2C-3:A-3C-3:B-1C-3:B-2C-3:B-3C.3-C.1C.3-C.2C-3:D-1C-3:D-2C-3:D-31,1
D.1 D-1:A-1D-1:A-2D-1:A-3D-1:B-1D-1:B-2D-1:B-3D-1:C-1D-1:C-2D-1:C-3D.1-D.2D.1-D.32,1
D.2 D-2:A-1D-2:A-2D-2:A-3D-2:B-1D-2:B-2D-2:B-3D-2:C-1D-2:C-2D-2:C-3D.2-D.1D.2-D.31,1
D.3 D-3:A-1D-3:A-2D-3:A-3D-3:B-1D-3:B-2D-3:B-3D-3:C-1D-3:C-2D-3:C-3D.3-D.1D.3-D.21,1
 322322322322
 A.1A.2A.3A.4A.5
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.4A.1-A.51,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.4A.2-A.51,1
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.4A.3-A.51,1
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.3A.4-A.51,1
A.5 A.5-A.1A.5-A.2A.5-A.3A.5-A.41,1
 22222

Clear

Adding "clear", "none", "nomatch", or "nogame" to the division specification will bring up an empty grid, with no games scheduled. It's possible to generate this grid by starting with 'U11B A5' and deleting 5 unwanted matches, or by using U11B A5 clear, which creates a grid with no matches set, and adding 5 games.

This is a 5 team group in which each team plays two other teams. A.1 plays A.2 and A.5, A.2 plays A.1 and A.3, A.3 plays A.2, A.4 plays A.3 and A.5, and A5 plays A.4 and A.1. The schedule started out as an empty schedule, with the games added manually.

 A.1A.2A.3A.4A.5A.6
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.4A.1-A.5A.1-A.63,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.4A.2-A.5A.2-A.63,1
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.4A.3-A.5A.3-A.63,1
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.3A.4-A.5A.4-A.62,2
A.5 A.5-A.1A.5-A.2A.5-A.3A.5-A.4A.5-A.60,4
A.6 A.6-A.1A.6-A.2A.6-A.3A.6-A.4A.6-A.51,3
 444444

Load

The 'load' keyword will show the matches for the specified division in the current tournament, loading them from the 'events database' rather than generating them.

This is a 6 team group in which each team plays four other teams. 'U18B load' was used to show the matches based on a schedule already in "Groups and Brackets" form. These matches were played in a 2013 Birmingham tournament.

If 'Numeric ID' or 'Group ID' are specified, the actual event IDs are displayed.

 A.1A.2A.3A.4B.1B.2B.3
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.4A-1:B-1A-1:B-2A-1:B-31,1
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.4A-2:B-1A-2:B-2A-2:B-31,2
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.4A-3:B-1A-3:B-2A-3:B-31,2
A.4 A.4-A.1A.4-A.2A.4-A.3A-4:B-1A-4:B-2A-4:B-32,1
B.1 B-1:A-1B-1:A-2B-1:A-3B-1:A-4B.1-B.2B.1-B.32,1
B.2 B-2:A-1B-2:A-2B-2:A-3B-2:A-4B.2-B.1B.2-B.32,1
B.3 B-3:A-1B-3:A-2B-3:A-3B-3:A-4B.3-B.1B.3-B.21,2
 2333333
'U18G load' was used to show the matches from a 2013 Huntsville tournament. It consisted of a 4-team group A and a 3 team group B. Each team played two group games against other teams in their groups.

A-4 and B-3, the last place teams in their groups, played in a consolation game, while A-3 and B-2 played in a wildcard game. The winner of the wild card game played in a semifinal game against the winner of group A, A-1. B-1 and A-2 played in the other semifinal, with the semifinal winners meeting in the final. All games other than the final and the 'A-1 v WC' game are shown as matches in the grid.

 A.1A.2A.3A.1A.2A.3
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.2A.1-A.32,2
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.1A.2-A.32,2
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.1A.3-A.22,2
A.1 A.1-A.2A.1-A.3A.1-A.2A.1-A.32,2
A.2 A.2-A.1A.2-A.3A.2-A.1A.2-A.32,2
A.3 A.3-A.1A.3-A.2A.3-A.1A.3-A.22,2
 444444
In a 3-team division, each team only has two other teams to play. Double scheduling is one way to give each team at least three games, common to most tournaments. Each team plays the other teams twice so each team plays four games.

gen_matches partially supports this configuration. 'U10B A3 A3' was used for this grid and the matches are generated correctly. However swapping scheduled and reverse games, and other scheduling functions are not completely functional.

Clustering

A blank line is inserted between clusters of matches so that no team is in a cluster more than once. This works pretty well for most group sizes, but can create less than optimal clusters for larger groups.

U19G A5 will generate a list with 4 clusters of 2 matches and 2 clusters with a single match. The last two matches in the list both include 'A.4' so they can't be scheduled together. However, this one has an easy workaround. Setting the Split Home/Away option will generate a match list with 5 clusters of 2 games.

U19G A6 without the Split Home/Away option will generate a match list with a single 3-match cluster and 6 2-match clusters. With Split Home/Away set, U19G A6 will generate with three 3 game clusters and 3 2-match clusters without the Split Home/Away option set. Clicking 'A.2-A.1' (2nd row, 1st column) will reduce that to five 3-match clusters, which is the minimum.

If an A7 spec is used, with Split Home/Away set, 9 clusters are generated (6 x 3, 3 x 1) . It's unlikely that any tournament will use a 7 team group in which each team plays every other in the group, but there is a simple remedy. Turning off 'Split Home/Away' will generate a match list with 7 clusters of 3 matches, the minimum. ( A7 w Home/Away off )

 
A5
A5 Split H/A
A6
A6 Split H/A
A6 H/A A.2-A.1

Save U18B Reset

U19B U19G U10B

Click 'Save <Division> to save the current matches for the division for use in the Assign phase, or copy the 'Match List'. Change the division input to generate other divisions. If 'U18B' is complete and 'U19G' isn't set up, use the dialog to set it up. The "Save" operation will add a button/link which can be used to bring up those values again. In this example, 'U19B', 'U19G, and 'U10B' have been defined, so clicking one of them will bring up the previously schedule matches for that division.

The Match List is updated when a saved match set is loaded, and it can be copied to a spreadsheet for external use, or the match information can be used directly by the 'assign' page. See the gen_tourn_info page to see how gen_matches fits in with other pages to build a tournament.

'Reset' will clear any saved values.

The best way to learn how the Gen Matches page works is to experiment. Please send comments, suggestions, and questions to Tom Konantz