With 13 teams playing a single round robin, where every team meets every other team once, you get 13 rounds and 78 matches, with each team playing 12. 13 is an odd number, so one team sits out each round. That is why there are as many rounds as teams.
Teams are numbered 1 to 13. After the draw, swap the numbers for real club names. This uses the standard circle method, also known as Berger tables, which guarantees every team meets every other exactly once, with no duplicates and no gaps.
| Round | Fixtures |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 bye2v133v124v115v106v97v8 |
| Round 2 | 1v1312 bye2v113v104v95v86v7 |
| Round 3 | 1v1213v1110 bye2v93v84v75v6 |
| Round 4 | 1v1112v1013v98 bye2v73v64v5 |
| Round 5 | 1v1011v912v813v76 bye2v53v4 |
| Round 6 | 1v910v811v712v613v54 bye2v3 |
| Round 7 | 1v89v710v611v512v413v32 bye |
| Round 8 | 1v78v69v510v411v312v213 bye |
| Round 9 | 1v67v58v49v310v211 bye12v13 |
| Round 10 | 1v56v47v38v29 bye10v1311v12 |
| Round 11 | 1v45v36v27 bye8v139v1210v11 |
| Round 12 | 1v34v25 bye6v137v128v119v10 |
| Round 13 | 1v23 bye4v135v126v117v108v9 |
Assuming 7-a-side, two 30-minute halves with a 5-minute break, plus changeover time, which comes to about 75 minutes per slot, and a 9-hour day, those 78 matches need:
| Pitches | Matches per day | Days needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 12 |
| 2 | 14 | 6 |
| 3 | 21 | 4 |
| 4 | 28 | 3 |
| 6 | 42 | 2 |
This is raw pitch capacity only. A real schedule also has to respect rest between matches, at least 60 minutes for youth football, no back-to-back games for the same side, and a cap on matches per team per day. Once those constraints go in, you usually need half a day to a full day more than the figure above.
Group stage (3 groups of 4–5), then teams split by group position into 3 tiers, each playing its own knockout plus placing matches: Cup (6 teams), Plate (6 teams), Shield (1 teams). Every tier is played out to a full 1–N ranking. Roughly 4–7 matches per team.
A straight round robin is the fairest format: the table decides everything, with no luck of the draw. The trade-offs are that there is no final to build up to, and the match count grows quickly, since 13 teams already means 78 games. That is why most youth tournaments run a group stage followed by tiered knockouts. The groups settle the seeding, then teams drop into Cup, Plate or Shield brackets, so everyone gets a similar number of games and every side still has something to play for on the last day.
How is the match count worked out?
A single round robin with N teams is N x (N-1) / 2 matches. For 13 teams that is 13 x 12 / 2 = 78.
What happens with an odd number of teams?
A dummy bye slot is added to make the number even. Whichever team is drawn against it sits that round out. Across 13 rounds every team gets exactly one bye and plays 12 matches.
How are teams separated on equal points?
The usual English order is goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head record, then a play-off or drawing of lots. Some competitions put head-to-head first instead. Both are legitimate, but write your choice into the rules before kick-off, not after a tie has happened.
Need kick-off times and pitch numbers, not just who plays who?
The table above answers who plays whom. Add your pitches, days and opening hours and get a full handbook in about ten seconds: every match with a time and a pitch, clashes and back-to-back games avoided automatically, plus referee cover, budget and entry-fee break-even. Free, no sign-up.
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