Round Robin Schedules: Ready-Made Charts for 4, 5 & 6 Teams (+ Generator)
A round robin schedule guarantees the fairest tournament there is — every team plays every other team. The catch is building the rotation correctly. This guide gives you ready-made, verified charts for 4, 5, and 6 teams, explains the math behind them, and points you to the free generator when your field is bigger.
Copy the charts straight into your league — or skip to section 5 and generate the whole thing in seconds.
How a Round Robin Schedule Works
In a round robin, every team plays every other team — usually once (single round robin) or twice with venues swapped (double round robin). The schedule is organized into rounds: sets of simultaneous matches where each team appears exactly once.
The numbers are fixed by the team count:
| Teams | Rounds | Total matches | Games per team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 | 5 (1 bye each) | 10 | 4 |
| 6 | 5 | 15 | 5 |
| 8 | 7 | 28 | 7 |
| 10 | 9 | 45 | 9 |
4-Team Round Robin Chart
Number your teams 1–4 and play three rounds — six matches total. Both matches in each round can run simultaneously if you have two pitches or courts:
| Round | Matches |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 vs 4 · 2 vs 3 |
| Round 2 | 1 vs 3 · 4 vs 2 |
| Round 3 | 1 vs 2 · 3 vs 4 |
Four teams is also the size where playing a double round robin (six games per team) often makes sense — a single round robin gives each team only three matches.
5-Team Round Robin Chart (With Byes)
Odd team counts mean one team sits out each round. Five teams need five rounds, with each team taking exactly one bye:
| Round | Matches | Bye |
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 2 vs 5 · 3 vs 4 | Team 1 |
| Round 2 | 3 vs 1 · 4 vs 5 | Team 2 |
| Round 3 | 4 vs 2 · 5 vs 1 | Team 3 |
| Round 4 | 5 vs 3 · 1 vs 2 | Team 4 |
| Round 5 | 1 vs 4 · 2 vs 3 | Team 5 |
Every team plays four matches and rests once — the fairest possible distribution. If your venue has only one pitch, the bye team makes a natural referee for that round.
6-Team Round Robin Chart
Six teams play five rounds of three matches — fifteen in total, no byes:
| Round | Matches |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 1 vs 6 · 2 vs 5 · 3 vs 4 |
| Round 2 | 4 vs 6 · 3 vs 5 · 1 vs 2 |
| Round 3 | 2 vs 6 · 3 vs 1 · 4 vs 5 |
| Round 4 | 5 vs 6 · 1 vs 4 · 2 vs 3 |
| Round 5 | 3 vs 6 · 4 vs 2 · 5 vs 1 |
These charts come from the standard circle method: fix one team and rotate the rest around it each round. Each rotation produces a round where everyone plays exactly once — the same algorithm every generator uses under the hood.
8+ Teams: Use a Generator
Hand charts stop being practical fast. Eight teams need 28 matches across 7 rounds; ten teams need 45 across 9. At that size you're also juggling home/away balance, venue clashes, and rest gaps — and a single transcription error in round 5 forces mid-season surgery on the whole schedule.
A round robin generator produces the complete schedule instantly for any team count, with byes rotated fairly. On JustTourney it's free: add your teams, generate fixtures, then attach dates, kick-off times, and venues to each match.
Bonus you don't get from a paper chart: enter scores as matches finish and the standings table — points, goal difference, tiebreakers — maintains itself on a public link every player can check.
Single vs Double Round Robin
A single round robin meets everyone once; a double round robin repeats the schedule with home and away swapped — the structure of the Premier League and most professional leagues.
- Single: half the matches, fits a short season or a one-day event. Slightly luck-affected — you might face the best team on their good day.
- Double: twice the games, perfectly balanced home/away, and the fairest table money can buy. Pick it when you have the calendar room.
A practical middle path for small fields: single round robin, then a finals round between the top two — league fairness plus a championship match.
From Chart to Real Schedule
A rotation chart tells you who plays whom in which round — you still have to map rounds onto dates, venues, and kick-off times. The short version: one round per match day or week, 5–7 days between each team's games in physical sports, buffer weeks for postponements, and the whole calendar published on day one.
The full treatment — home/away balancing, venue clash checks, handling reschedules — is in our companion guide on creating a fixture list.
Generate Any Round Robin Schedule
Any team count, byes rotated fairly, standings updated automatically — free on JustTourney.
Create Your Schedule — It's FreeQuick Summary: Round Robin Scheduling
- 1Every team plays every other team — N(N−1)/2 matches in total
- 2Even team count: N−1 rounds; odd count: N rounds with one bye each
- 3Use the verified charts above for 4, 5, or 6 teams
- 4The bye team makes a natural referee on single-pitch days
- 5From 8 teams up, use a generator — hand charts become error-prone
- 6Double round robin doubles the games and balances home/away perfectly
- 7Map one round per match day and publish the full calendar up front
The rotation math has been solved for a century — your job is just to not transcribe it wrong. Use the charts for small fields, the generator for everything else.