How many matchdays does a league have?

Before you start a league you need to know how long it will last. The answer depends on one thing only: the number of teams. This guide gives you the formulas and a table with the most common cases.

The formulas

Let N be the number of teams in a round-robin system:

• Matchdays (N even): N − 1. If N is odd, N matchdays, because one team sits out each time.
• Games per matchday: N / 2 (rounded down).
• Total games: N × (N − 1) / 2.
• With home and away: double the matchdays and games.

Examples table

What if the number of teams is odd

If you have 7 teams, one team gets no game on each matchday (it “sits out”). There are 7 matchdays and each team sits out exactly once. Some leagues add a “ghost” team to complete the schedule: whoever is drawn against it simply sits out that matchday.

How long will my league last?

Multiply the matchdays by the interval between them. A league of 8 teams in a single round is 7 matchdays: at one a week, about 7 weeks; with home and away, 14. Don't forget to add breaks for holidays and postponements: allow a 15–20% margin.

How home and away are shared out

In a well-made schedule, each team alternates as much as possible between playing at home and away. The circle method, which most generators use, achieves this reasonably well. You can try it with our free fixture generator: type in the teams, choose home and away, and get every matchday ready to copy or download for Excel.

If you'd rather not work it out

With CreaTuLiga you create the league, pick the teams and the fixtures appear on their own, with the date of each matchday, the time and the byes. If a game later has to be postponed, you mark it and it shows up in the pending list.

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