11 min• 03.11.2026
Round robin schedule for 6, 8, 10 and 12 teams: copy-ready tables
By Dawid Pątko
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Outdoor soccer had 16.8 million players in the US in 2025, up 15.8% in a single year, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Plenty of them play in adult rec leagues and Sunday 7v7 nights, and every one of those leagues needs somebody to answer the same question before week one: who plays whom, and when. That answer is a round robin schedule, a list of rounds in which every team plays every other team once.
Plenty of organizers build it on a whiteboard or in a spreadsheet, and the trouble tends to show up mid-season, when two teams meet for the second time while another pair never meets at all. This article skips the theory and gives you finished round robin schedules for 6, 8, 10 and 12 teams, checked game by game, plus the fix for an odd number of teams.
Draw numbers, copy the table for your team count, and only then add dates, times and fields. A round robin schedule is built once and reused every season.
The counts come first (games, rounds, weeks), then the four tables, then byes, and finally how to turn a table into a real calendar, by hand or with FLM System.
Round robin schedule basics: games, rounds and weeks
Two numbers decide whether your season fits the field time you booked. Work them out before you copy any table.
How many games and rounds?
With an even number of teams (n), one round robin has n × (n − 1) ÷ 2 games spread over n − 1 rounds. A double round robin, where every pair plays home and away, doubles both. For the four league sizes in this article:
Teams | Games (single) | Rounds | Games per round | Double round robin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 30 games, 10 rounds |
8 | 28 | 7 | 4 | 56 games, 14 rounds |
10 | 45 | 9 | 5 | 90 games, 18 rounds |
12 | 66 | 11 | 6 | 132 games, 22 rounds |
Games and rounds in a round robin schedule by number of teams
Play one round a week and rounds become weeks. A 10-team double round robin is 18 weeks before rainouts, which is longer than most spring or fall field permits. Our guide to planning a league season works the math backwards, from field hours to the number of teams you can take.
Reading the tables
Numbers 1 to 12 are slots. Draw a number for each team at the captains' meeting and write the team name next to it. In each pairing, the first team is home and the second is away.
The tables are built so that no team is home or away more than twice in a row, and home games split almost evenly: in the 8 team round robin, half the teams get four home games and half get three. If your whole league plays at one complex, home and away barely matter and you can ignore that part.
The method behind the tables (the circle method, and why an even field always needs n − 1 rounds) is covered step by step in round robin scheduling explained. Here we go straight to the output.
6 and 8 team round robin schedules
Six and eight teams is where most new 7v7 leagues and company leagues start. A single round robin takes five or seven weeks, so a double round robin still fits into one season.
6 team round robin
Five rounds of three games. Every team plays five times and meets every opponent exactly once.
Round | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 vs 6 | 2 vs 5 | 4 vs 3 |
2 | 6 vs 2 | 3 vs 1 | 5 vs 4 |
3 | 3 vs 6 | 4 vs 2 | 1 vs 5 |
4 | 6 vs 4 | 5 vs 3 | 2 vs 1 |
5 | 5 vs 6 | 1 vs 4 | 3 vs 2 |
6 team round robin schedule, single round (home team first)
Small leagues with a long season often play the 6 team round robin three times. Copy the table, flip home and away for the second pass, and use the original again for the third.
8 team round robin
Seven rounds of four games, 28 in total. Eight teams is where hand-built schedules start repeating matchups without anyone noticing, so a checked table saves more time here than anywhere else.
Round | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 vs 8 | 2 vs 7 | 6 vs 3 | 4 vs 5 |
2 | 8 vs 2 | 3 vs 1 | 7 vs 4 | 5 vs 6 |
3 | 3 vs 8 | 4 vs 2 | 1 vs 5 | 6 vs 7 |
4 | 8 vs 4 | 5 vs 3 | 2 vs 6 | 7 vs 1 |
5 | 5 vs 8 | 6 vs 4 | 3 vs 7 | 1 vs 2 |
6 | 8 vs 6 | 7 vs 5 | 4 vs 1 | 2 vs 3 |
7 | 7 vs 8 | 1 vs 6 | 5 vs 2 | 3 vs 4 |
8 team round robin schedule, single round (home team first)
10 and 12 team round robin schedules
At 10 and 12 teams a round robin schedule is a full season on its own: 9 and 11 rounds for a single round robin, twice that for home and away. A typo in round 3 here surfaces only when two teams show up for a game they already played.
10 team round robin
Nine rounds of five games, 45 games in a single round robin and 90 in a double. Draw the numbers, copy the pairings, put a date on each round.
Round | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 vs 10 | 2 vs 9 | 8 vs 3 | 4 vs 7 | 6 vs 5 |
2 | 10 vs 2 | 3 vs 1 | 9 vs 4 | 5 vs 8 | 7 vs 6 |
3 | 3 vs 10 | 4 vs 2 | 1 vs 5 | 6 vs 9 | 8 vs 7 |
4 | 10 vs 4 | 5 vs 3 | 2 vs 6 | 7 vs 1 | 9 vs 8 |
5 | 5 vs 10 | 6 vs 4 | 3 vs 7 | 8 vs 2 | 1 vs 9 |
6 | 10 vs 6 | 7 vs 5 | 4 vs 8 | 9 vs 3 | 2 vs 1 |
7 | 7 vs 10 | 8 vs 6 | 5 vs 9 | 1 vs 4 | 3 vs 2 |
8 | 10 vs 8 | 9 vs 7 | 6 vs 1 | 2 vs 5 | 4 vs 3 |
9 | 9 vs 10 | 1 vs 8 | 7 vs 2 | 3 vs 6 | 5 vs 4 |
10 team round robin schedule, single round (home team first)
12 team round robin
Eleven rounds of six games. With 12 teams you need two fields or a long block on one: six 7v7 games in 40-minute slots take four hours of field time every round.
Round | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4 | Game 5 | Game 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 vs 12 | 2 vs 11 | 10 vs 3 | 4 vs 9 | 8 vs 5 | 6 vs 7 |
2 | 12 vs 2 | 3 vs 1 | 11 vs 4 | 5 vs 10 | 9 vs 6 | 7 vs 8 |
3 | 3 vs 12 | 4 vs 2 | 1 vs 5 | 6 vs 11 | 10 vs 7 | 8 vs 9 |
4 | 12 vs 4 | 5 vs 3 | 2 vs 6 | 7 vs 1 | 11 vs 8 | 9 vs 10 |
5 | 5 vs 12 | 6 vs 4 | 3 vs 7 | 8 vs 2 | 1 vs 9 | 10 vs 11 |
6 | 12 vs 6 | 7 vs 5 | 4 vs 8 | 9 vs 3 | 2 vs 10 | 11 vs 1 |
7 | 7 vs 12 | 8 vs 6 | 5 vs 9 | 10 vs 4 | 3 vs 11 | 1 vs 2 |
8 | 12 vs 8 | 9 vs 7 | 6 vs 10 | 11 vs 5 | 4 vs 1 | 2 vs 3 |
9 | 9 vs 12 | 10 vs 8 | 7 vs 11 | 1 vs 6 | 5 vs 2 | 3 vs 4 |
10 | 12 vs 10 | 11 vs 9 | 8 vs 1 | 2 vs 7 | 6 vs 3 | 4 vs 5 |
11 | 11 vs 12 | 1 vs 10 | 9 vs 2 | 3 vs 8 | 7 vs 4 | 5 vs 6 |
12 team round robin schedule, single round (home team first)
For the second half of a double round robin you don't need a new table. Run the same rounds in the same order with home and away flipped, so 1 vs 12 becomes 12 vs 1.
Odd number of teams: the bye in a round robin schedule
Leagues rarely land on a clean even number. A team drops out the week before kickoff, or 11 sign up and nobody wants to turn one away. You don't need a separate table for that.
Using the next even table for 5, 7, 9 or 11 teams
With 7 teams, take the 8 team table; with 9, the 10 team table; with 11, the 12; with 5, the 6. Leave the highest number unassigned and treat it as the bye. In every round, the team listed against that number in Game 1 sits out.
Seven teams then play 7 rounds of three games, 21 games in total. Every team gets exactly one bye per round robin, which settles the usual argument before it starts.
The bye week in your league rules
A bye week is a good slot for a rained-out makeup game, as long as the opponent is free too, or for a scrimmage against a team that wants to join next season. Write into your league rules that a bye earns no points, so nobody argues about the standings in week six.
From round robin schedule to dates, times and fields
The table says who plays whom. What actually eats an organizer's evenings is everything else: which day, what time, which field, and what happens when a round gets rained out.
The draw and a few adjustments
The number draw can happen in front of everyone at the captains' meeting, but set aside the special cases first. If two teams share players or a sponsor, give them numbers that don't meet in round 1. If you want the rivalry game on the last night, find a pairing in the final round (in the 12 team table that's 11 vs 12, for example) and assign those two numbers before drawing the rest.
Dates, times and fields by hand
With the round robin schedule ready, give each round a date and each game a slot: one field from 8 a.m. to noon in 40-minute slots fits six games, exactly one round for 12 teams. Spread the unpopular slots (the first Sunday game, the last weeknight kickoff) evenly across the season, because the team that always plays at 8 a.m. is the first one not to re-register.
Leave two or three open weeks for weather and holidays. Rec players rarely have the legs for two games in one week, so plan the buffer before you publish the first date.
FLM System's schedule generator for leagues with more fields
Up to 8 teams and one field, a table and a spreadsheet work fine. Add a second field, referees who can only make certain nights or teams that can't play Sundays, and every change sends you back through the whole schedule.
In FLM System you add your teams, choose a single round, home and away or more, and the system builds the round robin matchups for the whole season. Then you pick how many rounds to schedule ahead, and the match schedule generator gives every game a date, time, field and referee based on each field's hours and the days teams have blocked. A game with no clash-free slot stays undated and goes onto a short list for you to place by hand. A rained-out week moves with one button.
If you already use Claude, you can connect it to your league through the AI assistant and ask, in plain language, for a round robin starting on a given date at 7:00 and 8:00 PM. The new schedule arrives unpublished until you've checked it. FLM System costs $1 per team per month, with a 14-day free trial and no credit card.
Round robin schedule FAQ
What is a round robin schedule?
A round robin schedule is a list of rounds in which every team in a league plays every other team once, with each round's pairings and the home team marked. A double round robin repeats it with home and away reversed. The final standings come from all the games of the season, so one bad night can't knock a team out.
How do you make an 8 team round robin schedule?
Draw a number from 1 to 8 for each team and copy the 7-round table above. For a double round robin, repeat the 7 rounds with home and away flipped, for 14 rounds and 56 games. Each team ends up with seven home games and seven away games.
How many games are in a 10 team round robin?
A single 10 team round robin has 45 games over 9 rounds, five games per round. A double round robin has 90 games over 18 rounds, which with two or three buffer weeks is about 21 weeks of Sundays, close to five months.
What's the best format for a 10 team tournament?
It depends on how much time you have:
- A season over several weeks – a single round robin (9 rounds), then playoffs for the top 8 or top 4 if you want a finish with stakes.
- A short tournament – two groups of 5 playing a round robin, then semifinals and a final.
- One day – groups of 5 with short games; on two fields it fits into a long morning.
Formats for every team count, with game totals and field time, are in our guide to tournament format by number of teams.
Can I make a round robin schedule in Excel?
Yes. Copy the tables from this article into Excel or Google Sheets and add columns for date, time and field. The trouble starts later:
- every rescheduled game means checking field clashes by hand;
- scores and standings live in a separate sheet;
- teams text you because the file doesn't update itself.
For six teams on one field, a spreadsheet is enough. With more teams or fields, a generator gives you those hours back.