Padel Monrad
Padel Monrad is the Swiss system played with fixed pairs: every round pairs teams that have won about the same amount, nobody is knocked out, and the whole field is ranked after roughly log2 of the number of teams. Eight pairs are ranked in three rounds, which is why it fits a club night that has two and a half hours rather than a whole weekend.
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How the Swiss pairing works
Round one pairs neighbours by seeding: team 1 meets team 2, team 3 meets team 4, and so on down the list. After that the table takes over. Teams are sorted by wins, then by seeding, and paired neighbour against neighbour again, so the teams on two wins meet each other and the teams on none meet each other.
The effect is that the matches get more even as the evening goes on, without anyone being sent home. A pair that loses the first match still plays every round, just against other pairs that lost theirs. No team meets the same opponent twice.
How many rounds you need
The round count is log2 of the number of teams, rounded up. Four teams need 2 rounds, 8 teams need 3, 12 teams need 4 and 16 teams need 4. That is the whole argument for the format: ranking 8 pairs through a group stage and a playoff takes five rounds, and Monrad does it in three.
Work the evening out from there. Three rounds at 15 minutes plus a changeover is a comfortable hour, which leaves room for a final or for the bar. Adding teams barely costs you time — doubling the field adds a single round.
Odd numbers, byes and how the table is ranked
Fixed pairs need an even number of players, and PadelLoop will not start a Monrad on an odd count. An odd number of teams is fine: the lowest-ranked team that has not already had one gets a bye that round.
A bye counts as a win. That is standard in the Swiss system, and it matters: without it, the odd number would punish a random team for how the sign-up sheet happened to end. The final table ranks on wins first, then point difference, then points scored.
Monrad or a round robin?
A round robin has every team play every other, which is the fairest way to find a winner when you have the time. With 8 teams that is 7 rounds. Monrad gets you a ranked field in 3, at the cost of some pairs never meeting.
Pick the round robin when the field is small or the evening is long. Pick Monrad when you have a lot of teams and a hard finish time, and you still want a real ranking rather than a knockout that sends half the room home after one match.
One honest limit: Monrad is not one of PadelLoop's social formats. The table stays on the organiser's own screen — there is no hall screen, no share link for players' phones and no CSV export for this format yet.
Common questions
How many rounds does a padel Monrad need?
Log2 of the number of teams, rounded up. Four teams need 2 rounds, 8 teams need 3, and 12 or 16 teams need 4. That is the point of the format: a group stage with a playoff would use five rounds to rank 8 pairs, and Monrad does it in three. Because the count grows logarithmically, doubling the field only adds one round, so a big field costs almost nothing in time compared to a round robin.
What is the difference between Monrad and a Swiss system?
They are the same thing. Monrad is the Nordic name, familiar from chess, and it is the word a Norwegian or Danish club will actually search for. The pairing rule described here is the Monrad variant: sort the table, then pair neighbour against neighbour. The Dutch variant pairs the top half against the bottom half instead. PadelLoop runs the Monrad variant.
What happens if you have an odd number of teams?
One team gets a bye that round, and it goes to the lowest-ranked team that has not already had one, so nobody gets two. The bye counts as a win. That is deliberate: if a bye counted as nothing, the odd number would punish a random team for something the organiser's sign-up list caused rather than anything that happened on court. The players themselves must still be an even number, since the pairs are fixed.
Is anyone knocked out in a Monrad?
No. Every team plays every round, which is the whole difference from a cup. Losing the first match does not end your evening, it just means you meet other teams that lost theirs, so the matches you get are closer to your level. That makes Monrad a good fit for a club night with a wide spread of ability, where a knockout would send the weakest half home after one match.
How is the Monrad table ranked?
Wins first, including any bye. Teams level on wins are separated by point difference, and if that is still level, by points scored. Seeding decides the order within a group of teams that are otherwise identical, which is also what keeps round one predictable: teams are paired 1 against 2, 3 against 4, and so on down the seeded list.
Set up a Monrad
Pick the format, add the players, and the tool draws the rounds and keeps the standings. Free, no sign-up.
Set up a Monrad