This has to be settled before the invitations go out, and it is the number most often guessed at. The table below is computed by the scheduler: for every combination of teams and days it starts at one pitch and works upward until no fixture is left unplaced.
| Teams | Matches | 1 day | 2 days | 3 days | 4 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | 36 | won’t fit | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 16 | 48 | won’t fit | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 20 | 70 | won’t fit | won’t fit | 5 | 5 |
| 24 | 84 | won’t fit | won’t fit | 6 | 5 |
| 28 | 98 | won’t fit | won’t fit | 7 | 7 |
| 32 | 112 | won’t fit | won’t fit | 8 | 7 |
“Won’t fit” means it does not fit on eight pitches either. The figures are the minimum; add one pitch for slack — rain delays, late arrivals and extra time all eat into it.
The instinct is to add pitches, but the bottleneck is not pitch count — it is the timeline. A side needs at least 60 minutes between its own matches and plays at most 3 matches a day. Those two rules spread each team’s fixtures across the clock, and no amount of extra pitches compresses that.
Measured: 24 teams over two days leaves 12 fixtures unplaced even on eight pitches; 20 teams over two days on eight pitches leaves 5. To finish in two days you have to cut matches per team — which means sending half the field home after the group stage.
This contradicts the usual advice. “24 teams, two days, four to six pitches” assumes half the teams are knocked out after their group (around 50 matches). The table above assumes a tiered format instead: groups, then two tiers each playing knockouts and placement matches, six to seven matches per team, everyone with something to play for — 84 matches. Both arithmetics are correct. The question is whether you want half your teams to go home after two games.
Change any of these — shorter matches, longer days, four matches a day — and the answer changes. Put your own numbers into the planner and everything recalculates.
Run it on your own numbers
Enter teams, pitches, days and local rates. You get the full fixture list with kick-off times, referee assignments, a costed budget with break-even entry fee, and a printable handbook. If it does not fit, it says so and tells you by how many fixtures. Free, no account.
Open the planner →