Tournaments - Sports Leagues Docs

Tournaments are the heart of the plugin. They contain teams, games, and generate standings. Every game belongs to a tournament, and standings are calculated per tournament stage.

📋 Tournament Concepts

Before creating a tournament, understand these key concepts:

Concept	Description	Example
Stage	A phase of the tournament	“Group Stage”, “Playoffs”
Round	A set of matchups (knockout only)	“Quarterfinals”, “Semifinals”
Group	A division of teams	“Group A”, “Eastern Conference”
Matchup	A pairing in knockout stage	“Team A vs Team B”

Tournament Systems

System	Description	Best For
Group	Round-robin within groups, standings calculated	Regular seasons, group stages
Knockout	Single-elimination brackets with matchups	Cup competitions, playoffs

➕ Creating a Tournament

Before creating a tournament, ensure you have created at least one Season and League.

1. Go to Sports Leagues > Tournaments > Add New
2. Fill in the Tournament Settings:
   • Tournament Title — Name of the competition (e.g., “Premier League 2024-25”)
   • Tournament Subtitle — Optional secondary text
   • Date From / Date To — Tournament duration (optional)
   • League — Select the league category
   • Season — Select the time period
3. Click Save and Continue

🏗️ Tournament Structure

After saving the basic settings, the tournament editor shows the structure builder with stages, rounds, and groups.

Working with Stages

Stages are the main divisions of your tournament. A simple league has one stage; a cup competition might have Group Stage + Knockout Stage.

To add a new stage:

1. Click Add New Stage in the stage tabs area
2. Enter a Stage Title (e.g., “Group Stage”, “Playoffs”)
3. Select the Tournament System:
   • Group — For round-robin competitions with standings
   • Knockout — For elimination brackets
4. Set Stage Status:
   • Official — Games count in overall statistics
   • Friendly — Games excluded from stats

Stage management:

• Reorder stages — Drag stages by their handle to change order
• Switch stages — Click a stage tab to view/edit it
• Delete a stage — Click “Delete Stage” at the bottom (only if multiple stages exist)

Working with Groups

Groups organize teams within a stage. For a simple league, one group is enough. For multiple divisions, create multiple groups (e.g., “Group A”, “Group B”).

To add a new group:

1. Click Add New Group (or “Add New Matchup” in knockout)
2. Enter a group title in the header field
3. Add teams to the group

Group management:

• Rename — Edit the title directly in the group header
• Reorder groups — Drag by the handle on the left
• Reorder teams — Drag teams within a group to set seeding order
• Delete group — Open the group settings modal and click “Delete Group”

Adding Teams to Groups

1. Click the gear icon on the group header
2. In the modal, use the right panel to find teams:
   • All Teams — Browse all available teams
   • Search By Title — Type to filter teams
   • Previous Round — Show teams from the previous round (knockout)
   • Previous Stage — Show teams from the previous stage
3. Click the + button next to a team to add it
4. Click the X button next to a team on the left to remove it
5. Click Close when done

Working with Knockout Rounds

In knockout stages, rounds organize the elimination bracket (Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals, etc.).

To add a new round:

1. Click Add New Round
2. Edit the round title (e.g., “Quarterfinals”)
3. Add matchups within the round

To delete a round:

• Click the X button in the round header (available for rounds after the first)
• Confirm deletion in the popup

💾 Saving Changes

Click the Save button at the bottom of the page to save all tournament structure changes. The button is disabled until all required fields are filled (Title, League, Season).

🔄 Core vs Premium Comparison

Both Core and Premium versions support full tournament management. Premium adds workflow enhancements for advanced tournament setups.

Feature	Core	Premium
Create tournaments with stages	✓	✓
Group system (round-robin)	✓	✓
Knockout system (elimination)	✓	✓
Multiple stages per tournament	✓	✓
Add/remove teams from groups	✓	✓
Drag-and-drop reordering	✓	✓
Official/Friendly stage status	✓	✓
Current GameDay tracking	—	✓
Bracket Layout control	—	✓
Team Placeholders in brackets	—	✓

⭐ Premium Features

The Premium version adds advanced tournament management features for professional leagues and complex competitions.

Current GameDay

For group stages, track the current gameday (matchweek) number. This field appears in stage settings when using the Group tournament system.

Use cases:

• Display “Matchweek 15” in standings widgets
• Filter games by current gameday in shortcodes
• Highlight upcoming fixtures for the active round

Bracket Layout Control

For knockout stages, control how the bracket displays on the frontend. This option appears in stage settings when using the Knockout tournament system.

Option	Behavior
Show (default)	Displays visual bracket diagram with matchups connected by lines
Hide	Shows only the game list without bracket visualization

Team Placeholders

In knockout matchups, set placeholder text for teams that haven’t qualified yet. This is ideal for brackets where qualification depends on group stage results.

Examples:

• “Winner of Group A”
• “1st Place Eastern Conference”
• “Winner QF1”
• “TBD”

To set placeholders:

1. In a knockout stage, find the matchup you want to configure
2. Click the curly brackets icon on the matchup header
3. Enter placeholder text for Team A and Team B
4. Click Close

Placeholders display in the bracket when no actual team is assigned. Once you add a real team, the placeholder is replaced automatically.

🔗 Editing Tournament Details

Additional tournament details (logo, featured image, custom content) are edited through the standard WordPress sidebar:

Field	Description
Tournament Logo	Small logo displayed in listings and headers
Featured Image	Large image for tournament page banner
Post Status	Published, Draft, or Hidden (Premium)

📊 After Creating a Tournament

Once your tournament structure is ready, you can:

• Create games — Go to Sports Leagues > Games > Add New and select this tournament
• Create standings — Go to Sports Leagues > Standings > Add New to create a standing table for a stage
• Display on frontend — Use shortcodes or blocks to show tournament data

📚 Related Documentation

• Seasons and Leagues — Required before creating tournaments
• Standing Table — Create standings for tournament stages
• Display Shortcodes — Show tournament data on your site