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Invited slots let you bring teams directly into any stage of your tournament, bypassing earlier rounds. This is how major events like FFIC and FFWS operate — pro teams get direct entry to later stages.

How It Works

When building your tournament roadmap, you can invite teams directly into any stage:
  1. Open the stage you want to invite teams to (e.g., Semifinals)
  2. Use the Invite option to add teams by name
  3. Invited teams are reserved a slot in that stage
  4. They bypass all earlier stages automatically
The platform adjusts the numbers accordingly. If your Semifinals stage has 12 slots and you invite 3 teams, the remaining 9 slots are filled by teams advancing from Qualifiers.

Example

Tournament: Phoenix Cup
  • Stage 1: Open Qualifiers — 48 teams, 4 groups of 12, Elimination
  • Stage 2: Grand Finals — 18 teams, 3 groups of 6, Round Robin
You invite 3 pro squads directly to Grand Finals:
  • ⭐ Team Elite
  • ⭐ Pro Assassins
  • ⭐ Last Season’s Champions
The math: 18 total slots - 3 invited = 15 slots filled from Qualifiers. The platform shows “15 advance from qualifiers” on the roadmap automatically.

Handling Invited Slots in Groups

When setting up groups for a stage with invited teams, you decide how invited slots are distributed:
  • Spread across groups — invited teams are distributed evenly (e.g., 1 invited team per group). This ensures each group faces some invited talent.
  • Dedicated group — all invited teams go into their own separate group. This keeps invited and qualified teams apart.
Example: You have 12 invited squads entering Semifinals. You can either spread 1-2 invited teams into each of your groups, or create a dedicated “Invited Group” of 12 just for them. See Group Creation for more details on group configuration.

Invited Slots + Open Registration

Invited slots and open registration work side by side with no conflicts:
  • Open registration fills the qualifier stages
  • Invited teams are placed directly in their assigned stage
  • The platform calculates how many teams need to advance from each prior stage to fill remaining slots
  • Everything connects automatically through the roadmap

When to Use Invited Slots

  • Rewarding past champions — give last season’s winners a direct entry to later rounds
  • Pro-am events — mix professional teams with community qualifiers
  • Sponsor obligations — some events require certain teams to be guaranteed spots
  • Balancing competition — ensure strong teams are spread across the tournament