To create any tournament setup, you can combine groups, brackets, and single matches on the Format page. You have the option to choose from predefined formats or start from scratch. Now, let's delve into the details of these three building blocks:

Firstly, in a group, every team or player competes against each other once or twice. This format, known as a single or double round robin, is also referred to as a league or competition model. The group standings are updated based on the match results. To customize the scoring and tiebreaker settings, you can utilize the Group Ranking section from the General page.

Secondly, a bracket follows a knock-out or single elimination system. The winner of each match progresses to the next round, with the final being the last round. Defeated competitors may participate in consolation matches against other losers. Tournify allows you to easily create sub brackets for these matches.

Lastly, a single match involves an encounter between two teams or players, primarily used for playoff or classification matches.

Now, let's focus on adding teams to the groups in the initial phase of the tournament. This can be done either manually by selecting the positions in the groups or by using the automated draw. You can always make changes later. In the subsequent phases, we need to fill the empty spots by creating links, based on earlier performances. For example, if we want the top 8 teams to advance to the knockout stage, we start by assigning spots for all teams that finished first and second in their groups.

At this point, we have two open spots remaining, but there are three teams that finished third in their groups. As per common practice, we allow the two best thirds to claim these positions. By clicking on the switch arrows next to the positions, the system automatically compares the teams from all groups and selects the top two third-placed teams based on the points gained. We will now allow the teams that didn’t qualify to play a classification match.

If your tournament includes multiple categories, remember to set up divisions on the General page. Divisions are useful for segregating teams by age group, gender, or skill level. Each division has its own teams and format.

During the tournament, you can use the Progress section on the Results page to move from one phase to the next. Once all matches of a phase have been played, click the Start button. The teams will be automatically placed in the next phase based on their performance and the links you've established earlier. But before diving into that, you’ll first have to plan the matches on your playing fields, which is done on the Schedule page (next video).