This may be possible, and may not.

I have put together an excel file that can do most of the work for a Competition draw run on a knockout basis. I've successfully sorted out most of the workings of it but can't work out how to get Excel to do the draw itself. (using re-calculate)

Is there a way of programming the file to recognise where to put "Byes" depending on the number of entrants? Or is this pie-in-the-sky?

For example, say there are 28 entrants, there will be 4 byes that should be placed in positions 2,4,6 & 8 so that the second round will consist of 16 players. The placement would vary depending on the number of entries.

I reckon it's probably not workable in Excel due to the many variables, but thought it was perhaps worth tapping some knowledgeable minds.