MartialMatch is affordable and easy to use tournament software for combat sport events.
Brackets generator in MartialMatch allows you to automatically arrange brackets according to selected criteria.
By ranking and academy
This is the recommended automatic seeding method for most brackets.
The system first checks the competitors' MartialMatch all-time ranking points for the discipline used by the generated bracket. The strongest ranked competitors are protected first, so they are less likely to meet too early. After that, the system uses academy information to place teammates as far away from each other as possible.
In simple terms:
- protect the strongest competitors
- separate academies where possible
- keep the result stable, so regenerating the same category does not create a random bracket
This is better than seeding only by academy because a bracket is not only about avoiding teammates. It should also avoid situations where the two strongest competitors meet in the first round or in the same early part of the bracket. Academy-only seeding can separate teammates, but it does not know who is ranked first, second, or third.
For example:
| Competitor | Ranking | Academy |
|---|---|---|
| Adam | #1 | Red Team |
| Ben | #2 | Blue Team |
| Chris | #3 | Red Team |
| Daniel | #4 | Green Team |
| Eric | no ranking | Blue Team |
| Filip | no ranking | Yellow Team |
| Greg | no ranking | Red Team |
| Henry | no ranking | White Team |
With academy-only seeding, the system mainly tries to split Red Team and Blue Team competitors. That can still place Adam and Ben on the same early path, because the system is not looking at ranking strength.
With ranking and academy seeding, Adam and Ben are protected first, so they should be placed on opposite finalist paths. Chris and Daniel are also treated as strong competitors. After those ranking priorities are handled, the system tries to place Eric, Filip, Greg, and Henry in a way that reduces early academy matches.
This means teammates can still sometimes meet in the first round. That does not always mean the bracket is wrong. It can happen when:
| Situation | Possible effect |
|---|---|
| Many competitors are from the same academy | There may be no bracket layout that keeps all teammates apart. |
| A top ranked competitor has an unranked teammate in the same category | The top competitor is protected first. The teammate may still land nearby because he is placed later, together with other unranked competitors. |
| The category is small | With only a few matches, some teammate conflicts are impossible to avoid. |
| The category has many unranked competitors | After ranked competitors are protected, teammate separation depends on the remaining open places. |
So if two teammates meet early, the reason is usually that the system found a better overall bracket by protecting ranked competitors first. It will not sacrifice the strongest competitors' paths only to avoid every teammate match.
We compared the ranking and academy algorithm with the older academy-only algorithm on historical bracket data. In that benchmark, the new method reduced serious early seeding conflicts by about 48%, while still keeping academy separation as an important second priority.
If the category has BYEs, the strongest protected seeds are also prioritized for those free passes. This is intentional, because a BYE is an advantage and should go to the best seeds first.
By academy
Each competitor registered for the competition is assigned to an academy. It often happens that in one weight category there are several competitors from the same academy. In this case, the bracket generator will arrange the brackets so that competitors from the same academy meet as late as possible.
Important: Competitors, to be properly seeded in the bracket, must represent the same academy, i.e. they must have the same academy identifier. The system distinguishes between academies with different identifiers, even if they have the same name. For example, if one competitor registered under the academy ABC and another competitor duplicated the same academy in the system, technically they will be two different academies.
By assigned spot
If we organize wrestling competitions, we can additionally, during the verification of competitors, assign each competitor a spot — e.g. by drawing lots.
Then, when the system generates brackets, it will seed competitors according to the assigned spot. I.e. competitors who drew numbers 1 and 2 will meet in the first match.
In a situation where we partially draw and assign spots to several competitors, and the rest of the category will not have assigned spots. The system will take into account the order of registration.
- For example, having 8 competitors in the category, we assign spots only to three: 1, 2, 8.
- The remaining 5 competitors do not have assigned spots.
- The system will arrange the bracket, first selecting competitors with assigned spots: [1, 2, 8] and then the remaining competitors in the order in which they were registered for the competition.
- So, even though the third competitor has chosen number 8, he will be placed in the 3rd place in the bracket.